E. Nesbit's Psammead Trilogy: A Children's Classic at 100

This is a far better collection of essays than The World of Oz, the other entry in the ChLA's Centennial Series which I've read. Unlike that volume, each of the thirteen articles here works to a critical purpose, with many of them examining aspects of Nesbit's confusing politics: her apparently progressive socialistic tendencies, class beliefs, and gender dynamics that sometimes appear to run counter to her distinctly middle-class, traditionalist children's fiction. Several of the essays also bring her association with Fabianism into account. Sometimes, the essays are a little bit repetitive of each other (which is perhaps unsurprising), but taken together they do provide a comprehensive examination of the Psammead novels. The final entries, focusing on the illustrations of H.R. Millar and the Nesbit-inspired fantasy of Edward Eager, do manage to break away somewhat from the overarching themes of the rest of the collection. Perhaps the biggest disappointment is that, in comparison to the other two books, The Phoenix and the Carpet is relatively lightly represented within the overall conversation. ( )