Five Children and It (2004) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

It explains to the children that all wishes granted by the sand fairy fade away at sunset. This is a fundamental rule of Its magic, the children learn that the magic is temporary and cannot provide permanent solutions to their problems. The sunset rule forces them to confront the consequences of their wishes and understand that magical shortcuts come with limitations.

Foreshadowing: It introduces Itself as an ancient sand fairy whose magic operates on a daily cycle, hinting at the temporal nature of Its powers.

• sunset
• wishes
• magic
• psammead
• fading

When the children wish for gold to repair their home, they discover the gold is unusable in ordinary transactions. Shopkeepers refuse it as counterfeit, and the gold ultimately vanishes when the wishes fade at sunset. This teaches the children that magical gold cannot function in the real world, it may look real but lacks the actual value needed for commerce.

• gold
• wish
• magic
• counterfeit
• useless

The children request wings because their father is fighting in World War I in France, and they desperately want to reach him. Robert, the oldest, asks It for wings so they can fly across the English Channel to find their missing father. This wish stems from their longing to be reunited with their father during the war.

Foreshadowing: The story establishes early on that their father has gone to fight in WWI, creating the emotional motivation for this wish.

• wings
• father
• france
• war
• flight

Horace makes a wish hoping something will hatch from his fossilized dinosaur egg, and It grants this wish. A living dinosaur emerges and threatens to devour the children. It intervenes and makes the dinosaur vanish to save them, leaving Horace frightened and faint. This incident demonstrates that even adult wishes can create dangerous, unintended consequences.

Foreshadowing: Horace's obsession with the egg and his desire to understand magical mechanics sets up this dangerous moment.

• dinosaur
• egg
• horace
• wish
• danger

When the children wish for their father to return, he materializes on the beach but vanishes when the sun sets, just like all the other wishes. This happens twice: once when he appears briefly before disappearing, and again during the final reunion. The sunset rule applies to people brought by magic just as it applies to objects and powers, reinforcing the story's message that true wishes cannot be granted through temporary magic.

• father
• vanish
• sunset
• wish
• return

When Horace traps the children in a locked room to force them to confess about It, Robert asks the sand fairy for wings. The wings appear, allowing the children to burst out of the locked room and escape through the air. Horace discovers the empty room and the open door, realizing too late that the children have flown away.

Foreshadowing: Robert was away when Horace sprung the trap, giving him the opportunity to seek It's help.

• wings
• escape
• horace
• trap
• locked room

Horace becomes increasingly suspicious of the children's secretive behavior and the strange events happening around the house. Curious about the mechanics of It's magic, he traps the sand fairy in his basement with the intent to dissect it and understand how Its magical powers work. This shows Horace's skeptical, scientific nature conflicting with the children's wonder.

Foreshadowing: Horace's growing suspicion throughout the story, particularly after the chaotic gold and car incident, builds toward this attempt.

• horace
• dissect
• trap
• magic
• curiosity

When the children wish for all household chores to be done magically, dozens of exact copies of each child flood the house. These duplicates merrily complete every task on the list but also wreck the place in their exuberant, uncontrolled effort. At sunset, all the copies vanish in a glittering cascade of golden dust, leaving the real children to face the mess they created.

Foreshadowing: It demonstrates Its power by revealing It can grant wishes, setting up the expectation that wishes will manifest literally.

• copies
• wish
• chores
• magic
• chaos

Through repeated experience with It's magic, the children learn that wishes bring both benefits and trouble, and that magical shortcuts cannot replace genuine effort. Each wish creates complications, the copies cause chaos, the gold proves worthless, the wings nearly fail over the sea, and the father keeps vanishing. They ultimately understand that working together as a family matters more than relying on magical solutions.

Foreshadowing: It explicitly states that ownership of responsibility matters more than quick fixes after the first wish disaster.

• lessons
• wishes
• responsibility
• family
• magic

During a game of hide-and-seek after the children's car breaks down, their father appears on the beach. Unlike previous appearances, this time the sunset arrives but he does not vanish, the family is finally reunited. The story suggests that this time the wish worked because it was a moment of genuine connection rather than desperate wishing, though the exact reason remains magical.

Foreshadowing: The children had already learned to stop relying on magic and to value family bonds above wishes.

• father
• return
• permanent
• hide and seek
• family