Robert (Five Children and It)

Overview

Robert, called Bobs by the other children, is one of the four older siblings in Five Children and It. He shares their country home and participates in the discovery of the Psammead, initially suggesting that the creature might be a rat. The novel treats him as an ordinary human child who can be changed by magic, rather than a naturally giant being. In the winged adventure he rises awkwardly in his knickerbocker suit with his boots hanging below him. These rainbow-feathered wings belong to the day’s wish and should not become permanent features in a portrait of Robert’s usual form.

His most individually developed transformation begins during a game with a baker’s boy. Robert lassoes the boy with Jane’s skipping-rope, trips him and spills the bread, then loses the resulting fight. Anger and a bruised leg lead him to wish that he were bigger than his opponent. Touching the hidden Psammead makes that wish effective: he becomes enormously tall, while his Norfolk suit and Eton collar grow with him. The narrator estimates ten or eleven feet and explicitly says there is no measuring rule available. The estimate should be preserved as an estimate, not a certified anatomical dimension or a fixed growth multiplier.

Robert first uses his size to intimidate the baker’s boy, placing him on a haystack rather than striking him. The event does not justify every part of his revenge or make the earlier provocation disappear. His new scale soon causes practical trouble: the dining-room cannot comfortably hold him, ordinary portions leave him hungry, and strangers stare. Jane proposes showing him at the fair; he agrees after being offered a double share of the proceeds. When the showwoman speaks as though he can be bought and managed as an uncomprehending attraction, Robert rejects that assumption. He consents to exhibit for one day and asks for fifteen shillings, not a permanent sale of himself.

The exhibition is exhausting. Visitors demand handshakes and touch him to test whether he is real, while the showman’s invented imperial and romantic biography advertises an origin Robert does not actually have. He cannot accept a later engagement because he knows the enlargement will end. Cyril helps arrange privacy around sunset, and the brothers plan their escape as the ordinary-sized boy returns. Robert’s strength is thus temporary and conditional, while his discomfort remains human. The profile includes his ordinary participation in the final crisis, when mother assigns him to watch the garden windows. It does not convert his adventurous ambitions into accomplished exploration, grant lasting giant ancestry, or import another novel’s later continuity.

First appearances & development

E. Nesbit’s original Five Children and It. This profile follows the retained original narrative rather than the later sequence or adaptations; no undocumented personal model or influence is asserted.

Canon & continuity

Original narrative.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

1. 01

   Five Children and It

   E. Nesbit

   Selected original chapters.

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

1. PrimaryFive Children and ItResearch access: 2026-10-11
2. CatalogueGutenberg: Five Children and ItResearch access: 2026-10-11

Image credits

Imagined Enlarged Robert waits in the barn before the fair.

Unofficial AI interpretation. Enlarged Robert waits in the barn before the fair. Action and selected objects follow the original narrative; portrait, precise age, clothes beyond named details, setting and light are imagined, without an adaptation likeness claim. Full-frame display derivative; no upscaling.