If you, too, were brought up on E. Nesbit -- if you felt as though the Bastable children were personal friends, it would be hard for you to be objective about The Phoenix and the Carpet. But, frankly, it was with a sense of shock that I looked at the old-fashioned, and never attractive, illustrations by J.S. Goodall. The paper and general type layout seem to date with the pictures. And yet the magic of the story is still potent --fantasy done in realistic vein, and enchantment for the imaginative child. I'd hate to have missed it. But there's a hurdle to take in marketing it today.
