«E Nesbit was the inventor of the modern children's adventure story. Less well known than Five Children and It or The Railway Children, this to my mind is her most imaginative book»

Julia Donaldson, Guardian

«E. Nesbit's book The Enchanted Castle included a terrifying scene in which the children put on a play and dress up some brooms and brushes in hats and coats as an audience. These creatures, which they call the Ugly-Wugglies, come to life clapping before chasing the children. I was chilled - I still find it chilling today»

Antonia Fraser, Daily Telegraph

«Despite [Nesbit's] fantastic plots, which generally hinge on some highly imaginative form of magic - her books were among the earliest to portray kids from their own point of view. Nesbit's best-known characters, the independent-minded Bastable children, jockey fiercely for position among themselves, but they always unite in the face of adult intervention»

Washington Post