I'll set the record straight first: I'm American, and I know Nesbit was English. That accounts for some of the references being undecipherable. Also, she wrote about 100 years ago. That accounts for more of the references being undecipherable. And lastly, I know that it's almost impossible for any two people (say, Nesbit and me) to have read all the same books and have all the same cultural references in our heads. That accounts for some of the references being undecipherable.

I was rereading this the other night and idly decided to make a note of every reference that I didn't understand. Through a 242-page book, I found 24 references. My husband is English, so I checked some of these with him on the off chance that some of them were still going concerns in the UK today...most of them weren't. Here are a few things we couldn't figure out. I'm paraphrasing because my notes are here but my book is not.

"You know let dogs delight"

"What happened to the guinea pig? Of course you know the answer to that." (There was no reference to a guinea pig in the discussion under way.)

"Tourbillon"

"Boys of England" books

"The red deer that Edward shot...we were Children of the New Forest..."

"Gaboriau"

"Going to Klondike"

There are more, but that's kind of the gist of it. Anyway, despite all this, the book is still an OK read and the kids do some entertaining things a la typical Nesbit. That's why it got 3 stars instead of only 1.

The Treasure seekers is a story about a small group of children who try and earn money to help their father (an unsuccessful businessman). The children, along the way, meet lots of characters in turn-of-the-century England. Nesbit really understands children and can write delightfully about them. There are lots of very funny episodes in tbe book.

Nonetheless, this is not Nesbit's best work. Enchanted Castle, Five Children and It, Phoenix and the Carpet are better, since they also incorporate magic. This book is also distinctly unPC in some places, for instance in its description of a Jewish character (he's a miserly moneylender), and is to that extent a product of its times.

How would you solve your money problems? The 6 Bastable children find inventive ways to make a shilling or two. They dig for treasure, kidnap a neighbor, write and sell poetry, and more. Best of all, they don't go to school. What could be more fun? Spying on a politician, perhaps?