Fairy Tales and stories for childrens. Book 25

Fairy Tales and stories for childrens. Book 25: 1. The Story of the Treasure Seekers; 2. The Wouldbegoods; 3. The New Treasure Seekers; 4. Dream Days.


1. The Story of the Treasure Seekers  

Published: 1899 

The Story of the Treasure Seekers is a novel by E. Nesbit. First published in 1899, it tells the story of Dora, Oswald, Dicky, Alice, Noel, and Horace Octavius (H. O.) Bastable, and their attempts to assist their widowed father and recover the fortunes of their family; its sequels are The Wouldbegoods (1899) and The New Treasure Seekers (1904). The story is told from a child's point of view.


2. The Wouldbegoods 

Published: 1901

The Bastable children are up to yet more adventures in this sequel to "The Story of the Treasure Seekers--"a delightful classic that will charm children and adults alike The Bastable children have been banished to the country in disgrace--following a particularly damaging reenaction of a jungle scene featuring expensive stuffed animals and a garden hose. The gang of six, Dora, Oswald, Dicky, Alice, Noel, and Horace Octavius (H.O.), decides to turn over a new leaf. Spurred on by Dora's urgings, the children found "The Society of the Wouldbegoods"--aiming to mend their ways by being good whenever possible. But the schemes they undertake to try to be good and make themselves useful never seem to quite go as planned. Even when they are attempting to be well behaved, they seem unable to endear themselves to adults, instead, among other things, they cause a fire, some flooding, get held hostage, and find time to purchase a pistol along the way. It seems that despite their best intentions, they are destined to leave a trail of destruction in their wake--and to be, frankly, naughty.


3. The New Treasure Seekers

Published: 1904

'The New Treasure Seekers' is the third and final book in the saga of the Bastable children, continuing on from 'The Story of the Treasure Seekers' and 'The Wouldbegoods'. The Bastable books were a big influence on C.S. Lewis and Arthur Ransome, among others.

The six Bastable children fill their free time with entertainments that don't always turn out as they plan. But whether telling fortunes at a party, unwittingly assisting an elopement, reforming their nasty cousin Archibald, or even getting arrested, it is all good fun, and usually for a good cause.


4. Dream Days 

Published: 1898

Dream Days is a collection of children's fiction and reminiscences of childhood written by Kenneth Grahame. A sequel to Grahame's 1895 collection The Golden Age (some of its selections feature the same family of five children), Dream Days was first published in 1898 under the imprint John Lane: The Bodley Head. (The first six selections in the book had been previously published in periodicals of the day—in The Yellow Book, the New Review, and in Scribner's Magazine in the United States.) The book is best known for its inclusion of Grahame's classic story The Reluctant Dragon.