Edith Nesbit (1858–1924) wrote children’s stories that were very different from earlier English books for young readers. Unlike authors such as Lewis Carroll, who wrote about children escaping into imaginary worlds, Edith Nesbit wrote about real children having adventures in the real world.

The characters in Nesbit’s books aren’t always polite or well behaved. Edith knew children well from watching and listening to her sons and daughters when they were young. She married when she was 18, and she and her husband, Hubert Bland, had five children.

Aside from her children’s stories, she also wrote some scary horror stories.