“By a family misfortune these children are for a time deprived of their father, compelled to leave their pleasant home, and obliged to live in a little cottage close to the railway. All their strange joys and troubles are in one way or another connected with this railway and its surroundings.”—Outlook.
“A fragrant and sweet story. It would be indeed difficult to find one better suited for reading around the nursery fire or one which boys and girls alike would more enjoy.”
+ Ath. 1906, 2: 510. O. 27. 70w.
“The interest—of which there is fair amount—is fortunately independent of the weak pen-and-ink drawings.”
+ – Nation. 83: 484. D. 6, ’06. 150w.
“E. Nesbit has put into a book for children some of that cleverness and charm which characterize his grown up stories.”
+ N. Y. Times. 11: 735. N. 10, ’06. 130w.
“The incidents are worked out in a decidedly original way, and the story is strong enough to hold the attention of older readers as well as of young people”.
+ Outlook. 84: 533. O. 27, ’06. 170w.