Books with author Clarles Kingsley

Charles Kingsley was an English clergyman, professor, historian and novelist who felt a great concern for social reform, particularly regarding child labor practices. Having read Darwin's "On the Origin of the Species", he was also a proponent of the theory of evolution; however, he credited evolution to God, proposing that science and Christian faith could exist harmoniously. Kingsley encouraged an open-minded attitude, and the willingness to use one's imagination. His 1863 classic, "The Water Babies", is a sort of fairy tale about a boy chimney sweep who drowns in a river, and is there transformed into a "water baby." The story relates the moral education that Tom receives in a series of adventures and lessons among the community of water babies. Kingsley expresses his concerns with child labor, as well as his ideas on Christian redemption, in this entertaining and somewhat satirical story.

My Dear Children, Some of you have heard already of the old Greeks; and all of you, as you grow up, will hear more and more of them. Those of you who are boys will, perhaps, spend a great deal of time in reading Greek books; and the girls, though they may not learn Greek, will be sure to come across a great many stories taken from Greek history, and to see, I may say every day, things which we should not have had if it had not been for these old Greeks. - excerpt from Preface of The Heroes (Or Greek Fairy Tales for My Children)

Once upon a time there were two princes who were twins. Their names were Acrisius and Prœtus, and they lived in the pleasant vale of Argos, far away in Hellas. They had fruitful meadows and vineyards, sheep and oxen, great herds of horses feeding down in Lerna Fen, and all that men could need to make them blest: and yet they were wretched, because they were jealous of each other. From the moment they were born they began to quarrel; and when they grew up each tried to take away the other’s share of the kingdom, and keep all for himself. So first Acrisius drove out Prœtus; and he went across the seas, and brought home a foreign princess for his wife, and foreign warriors to help him, who were called Cyclopes; and drove out Acrisius in his turn; and then they fought a long while up and down the land, till the quarrel was settled, and Acrisius took Argos and one half the land, and Prœtus took Tiryns and the other half. And Prœtus and his Cyclopes built around Tiryns great walls of unhewn stone, which are standing to this day.

This book is retelling of the myths of Perseus, Jason and the Argonauts, and Theseus for young adults, originally published circa 1856. Kingsley is best known as the author of Water Babies. Although this is not the first time this text has appeared on the Internet, this is the only version with the complete set of Squire and Mars black and white and four-color art-deco illustrations. This includes two illustrations censored from later editions, probably because of female nudity.THE HEROES: GREEK FAIRY TALES FOR MY CHILDRENTABLE OF CONTENTSPREFACEThe First Story—PerseusPART ONE: How Perseus and His Mother Came to SeriphosPART TWO: How Perseus Vowed a Rash VowPART FOUR: How Perseus Came to the ÆthiopsPART FIVE: HOW PERSEUS CAME HOME AGAINThe Second Story--The ArgonautsPART ONE: How the Centaur Trained the Heroes on PelionPART TWO: How Jason Lost His Sandal in AnaurosPART THREE: How They Built the Ship Argo in IolcosPART FOUR: How the Argonauts Sailed to ColchisPART FIVE: How the Argonauts Were Driven into the Unknown SeaPART SIX: What was the end of the Heroes?The Third Story—TheseusPART ONE: How Theseus Lifted the StonePART TWO: How Theseus Slew the Devourers of MenPART FOUR: How Theseus Fell By His PrideNOTE TO THE READER: ORIGINS OF THE GODS NAMED IN ASTROLOGYMercury: The God’s MessengerVenus: The Goddess of Love and BeautyMars: The God of WarJupiter: King of the Roman GodsSaturn: The God of HarvestUranus: The God of the SkyNeptune: The God of the SeaPluto: The God of Wealth

The Water-Babiesby Charles KingsleyThe Water-Babies, A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby is a children's novel by the Reverend Charles Kingsley. Written in 1862-1863 as a serial for Macmillan's Magazine, it was first published in its entirety in 1863. The book was extremely popular during its day, and was a mainstay of children's literature through the 1920s.The protagonist is Tom, a young chimney sweep, who falls into a river after encountering an upper-class girl named Ellie and being chased out of her house. There he dies and is transformed into a "water baby", as he is told by a caddis fly — an insect that sheds its skin — and begins his moral education. The story is thematically concerned with Christian redemption, though Kingsley also uses the book to argue that England treats its poor badly, and to question child labour, among other themes.Source: Wikipedia(less)Fiction Fantasy

When Tom, an ill-treated little chimney-sweep, jumps into a clear, cool stream to clean himself something magical happens; he is turned into a tiny water baby by the fairies. He enters a strange, magical underwater world, and travels beyond the world's end to the other end-of-nowhere, getting into all sorts of scrapes and encountering creatures beautiful and frightening along the way. He also learns many important lessons - it is a voyage of discovery that Tom will never forget.

The Water-Babies, A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby is a children's novel by the Reverend Charles Kingsley. Written in 1862–63 as a serial for Macmillan's Magazine, it was first published in its entirety in 1863. It was written as part satire in support of Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species. The book was extremely popular in England, and was a mainstay of British children's literature for many decades, but eventually fell out of favour in part due to its prejudices (common at the time) against Irish, Jews, Americans, and the poor