#78 in Middle grade
The Railway Children
- 168
- Pages
- about 3 h
- Reading time
- Film 1970 +2
- On screen
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Our view
“The Railway Children” is a warm, quietly clever children’s classic about kindness and family in hard times. Its children are easy to like, and some scenes can move adults too. For some readers it is slower going than its slim size suggests. First serialised in 1905, it keeps an old-fashioned gentleness.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
The Railway Children is a children's book by Edith Nesbit. Originally serialised in The London Magazine in thirteen instalments from January 1905 to January 1906, it was published in book form in 1906. It has been adapted for the screen several times, of which the best known is the 1970 film version.
On screen
This book has been adapted for the screen 3 times — from 1970 to 2000.
Adaptation data: Wikidata · On screen →
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.9 across 97 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 40% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Middle grade average of 8.0. That is how 7.9 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 7.9 | 29 | 30% |
| Hardcover | 7.9 | 68 | 70% |
Frequently asked
What age is The Railway Children for?
The Railway Children sits on the Children shelf in the sources we use, which by convention means roughly ages 5–10. This is a guide from the book’s category, not a publisher’s age rating. It has 168 pages — shorter than 86% of the ranked books in Middle grade.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Middle grade — with scores between 7.9 and 8.0, closest to this book.
