Other editions of book The Water-Babies illustrated

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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 appears to drown and is transformed into a "water-baby",[3] as he is told by a caddisfly-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. Tom embarks on a series of adventures and lessons, and enjoys the community of other water-babies once he proves himself a moral creature. The major spiritual leaders in his new world are the fairies Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby (a reference to the Golden Rule), Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid, and Mother Carey. Weekly, Tom is allowed the company of Ellie, who became a water-baby after he did. Grimes, his old master, drowns as well, and in his final adventure, Tom travels to the end of the world to attempt to help the man where he is being punished for his misdeeds. Tom helps Grimes to find repentance, and Grimes will be given a second chance if he can successfully perform a final penance. By proving his willingness to do things he does not like, if they are the right things to do, Tom earns himself a return to human form, and becomes "a great man of science" who "can plan railways, and steam-engines, and electric telegraphs, and rifled guns, and so forth". He and Ellie are united, although the book states (perhaps jokingly) that they never marry, claiming that in fairy tales, no one beneath the rank of prince and princess ever marries. The book ends with the caveat that it is only a fairy tale, and the reader is to believe none of it, "even if it is true."

Tom is the focal point of The Water-Babies, A Fairy Tale of a Land Baby. Scrappy, full of mischief even though he lives in a world of darkness, dirt, pain and hunger Tom is a ten year old chimney sweep that only dreams of the time when he will be the Master Chimneysweep with a few charges to treat as he had been treated and ride the donkey rather than walk behind it with the soot bags. A boy without education, religion, or family he is the picture of human nature in the rough. The difficult topics of childhood death, child labor and the lives of the poor in 1860’s England are all covered in Charles Kingsley’s entertaining novel about little Tom the chimney sweep that becomes a water baby when he falls in the river and drowns after being chased out of an upper-class manor for talking with young Ellie who lived there. As a water baby Tom begins learning the moral qualities his life as an uneducated, godless waif never afforded him. Kingsley weaves bits and pieces of science, theology, and philosophy into his fairy tale. Water Babies came out in the height of the Industrial Revolution in England and although readers were constantly reminded throughout the book that this is only a fairy tale written for fun and pretence which does not need to be believed Kingsley’s gift for description paints word pictures that cannot be ignored when they materialize in real life. Lovingly recreated as an mp3 audio this CD contains the timeless story of The Water-Babies. Now you can enjoy it again and again - MP3 compatible player (or a computer) required to play this CD Version: Unabridged Language: English Reader: Solo Female Format: MP3 CD Tracks / Chapters: 17 Tracks Total running time: 07:05:29

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