POEM - Dedication to "Five Children and It"

Mothers, the world over, lament their children are growing up too quickly.  The same, no doubt, rang true for the author, E. Nesbit as observed on the flyleaf of "Five Children and It."  The book, first published in 1902,  is dedicated to JOHN BLAND, who most likely was her son (Edith Nesbit was married to a Hubert Bland and she had a "growing family").  With Isobel already in Kindergarten and learning her letters, I can concur with the sentiments in this poem:

My Lamb, you are so very small,

You have not learned to read at all.

Yet never a printed book withstands

The urgence of your dimpled hands.

So, though this book is for yourself,

Let mother keep it on the shelf

Till you can read. O days that pass,

That day will come too soon, alas!

Alisdair and I began reading "Five Children and It" on Tuesday afternoon and we are almost finished already ~ just two chapters left! And then it is on to "The Phoenix and the Carpet" ~ so many exciting adventures, we can't help reading onward to find out what will happen next!