The Story of the Treasure Seekers by E. Nesbit is an excellent book which gives a playful sense of what it was like to be a child in the 1890s. I was interested by the similarities and differences between being a child then and being a child now. I think I'm quite like the narrator, Oswald, and his littlest brother is just like my little brother.
I like this book because it was written as if by a child and how the children think that they are quite posh and lucky but they are wrong; they are actually nearly very poor. This book was published in 1899 so you can say that this book is old fashioned and some of the words are not used anymore – but I like history and words so finding out what they meant was very interesting.
The book is about six children (two girls and four boys) who live with their father. Their mother died and their father's business is not going very well so they have stopped going to school – their father says he will send them back as soon as he can. The five children decide to restore the fallen fortunes of their family.
They hold a council (without their father) and each of them come up with one way of doing this… some of them are more successful than others. You'll have to discover what their ideas are for yourself! But they are all very entertaining. I recommend this book to all children 9+ (or younger if an adult reads it aloud or you listen to an audiobook.)
• Buy this book at the Guardian Bookshop.
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