Books with title The Water Babies

Timothy West, Julia McKenzie and Oliver Peace star in this BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of Charles Kingsley's classic tale of a chimney sweep who becomes a water baby. Forced up the chimneys of Hartover Hall by his cruel master, Grimes, young Tom gets lost and comes down the wrong one, frightening little Miss Ellie. In the chase that follows, he is rescued by the fairies and taken to be a water baby under the waves. There, he makes friends with sea creatures such as the Lobster and meets the beautiful, kind fairy Mrs Doasyouwouldbedoneby and her ugly, unpleasant sister Mrs Bedonebyasyoudid. When he is introduced to the other Water Babies, he is reunited with Ellie, who has also been transformed. With her support, he sets off on a quest to the Other-End-Of-Nowhere. But first he must find Mother Carey's peace pool – and help out the last person he wants to save: his former master.... Oliver Peace stars as Tom, with Timothy West as Charles Kingsley and Julia McKenzie as Mrs Doasyouwouldbedoneby and Mrs Bedonebyasyoudid. Dramatised by Berlie Doherty. The wonder and excitement of much-loved children's classics lives on in BBC Radio's acclaimed full-cast dramatisations, complete with evocative music and sound effects.

There are very few children's stories that have raised as much outrage in grown-up politics as The Water Babies did when it first appeared in 1863. It was written by Charles Kingsley for his own little boy and shortly after he had been made tutor to the Prince of Wales. It seems fairly innocent at first, suggesting the gentle idea that when the poor little tykes who were used as human chimney brushes in the 19th century died, they were turned into water babies - small, amphibious cherubs who headed off to paradise via an exciting and educational journey upstream in The Great River. Innocent it wasn't, however. It changed minds, laws and eventually lives. Tom, the young chimney sweep, was responsible for more heartache amongst right-thinking Victorians than any slightly wicked young chap off on an adventure has a right to be. This book is in fact a highly eloquent plea for the rights of child labourers. It also openly used the ideas of Darwin's scandalous theory of evolution and even put forward one of the earliest cries against pollution, but all this is hidden in one of the most moving and affecting children's stories of all time.

"IT was in 1863 that The Water-Babies was written, showing the naturalist in the fulness of his strength, fearlessly, yet tenderly, playing with the tremendous results of advanced science in the nineteenth century. . . ."The writing of the book was the outcome of a gentle reminder, at breakfast one spring morning, of an old promise, to the effect that as the three elder children had their book—The Heroes—the baby, my youngest brother, then four years old, 'must have his.' My father made no answer, 'but got up at once and went to his study, locking the door,' and in an hour came back with the first chapter of The Water-Babies in his hand. At this pace and with the same ease the whole book was composed. . . ."A visit in 1858 to Mr. W. E. Forster in Wharfedale, and to Mr. Morrison at Malham, gave him the local setting of the beautiful opening chapters. For the grandeur of the scenery of Godale Scar and Malham Cove had made a profound impression on his mind, as did the beauty of the Wharfe below Denton Park."Places he had seen, and many more he had read and dreamed of in his father's fine library of voyages and travels, fairies and men of science, fads and foibles, education true and false, Pandora's box and sanitary science—a matter always dear to his heart—the ways of beasts and birds, fishes and insects, of plant and tree and rock, of river and tide, are all interwoven here with the deepest truths of life and living, of morals and religion. So that while the book enchants the child, it gives the wise man food for thought. . . ."Happy are the children who get their first ideas of the marvels of nature all around them from such a lesson-book as this. . . ."And perchance, when they are grown men and women, and like Tom have won their spurs in the great battle, they may look back with thankful hearts to certain pages in The Water-Babies; pages which taught them, while as little children they read a fairy tale, what a fine thing it is to love truth, mercy, justice, courage, and all things noble and of good report."Thus Rose G. Kingsley, in a preface to her father's fairy tale, describes the impromptu manner in which The Water-Babies was written. Dashed off for the pleasure of his own little son, this book has charmed and entertained thousands of children for more than fifty years, and has undoubtedly in many cases taught "what a fine thing it is to love truth, mercy, justice, courage, and all things noble and of good report."

When Tom, a young chimney sweep, falls into a river and drowns, he is transformed from a 12-year-old boy who has known nothing but brutality and poverty into a "water-baby." In an underwater world surrounded by fairies, insects and water nymphs, he soon discovers a new life of adventure and excitement. Gloriously illustrated by Mabel Lucie Attwell, Charles Kingsley's The Water-Babies is a truly special story to treasure.

• The book includes 10 unique illustrations that are relevant to its content.ung Tom is a chimney-sweeper's boy who one day falls into a river and drowns, only to be transformed into a water-baby. Through his encounters with friendly fish, curious lobsters, and characters such as Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby, he sloughs off his selfish nature and earns his just reward. Tom's comic adventures are constantly interrupted by Kingsley's sideswipes at contemporary issues such as child labor and the British education system, and they offer a rich satiric take on the great scientific debates of the day. The story's linguistic and narrative oddities make it an unclassifiable fantasy that is both a naturalist's handbook and an aquatic Pilgrim's Progress, and its vibrant symbolism also reveals some of Kingsley's more private obsessions regarding cleanliness and sanitation reform. An insightful Introduction by Robert Douglas-Fairhurst explores the genesis and context of Kingsley's tale, its linguistic oddities and multiple genres, its delight in nature and scientific discovery mixed with romance and mythic symbolism. Explanatory notes provide a wealth of background information concerning contemporary figures, literature, and events alluded to in the text. The book also includes part of Kingsley's essay "The Wonders of the Shore," in which he first wrote about the myriad creatures living underwater. An attractive gift edition with ribbon marker, wood-engraved chapter initials, and the original illustrations, this volume captures the full richness of Kingsley's bizarre but compelling fairy tale.

• The book includes 10 unique illustrations that are relevant to its content.ung Tom is a chimney-sweeper's boy who one day falls into a river and drowns, only to be transformed into a water-baby. Through his encounters with friendly fish, curious lobsters, and characters such as Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby, he sloughs off his selfish nature and earns his just reward. Tom's comic adventures are constantly interrupted by Kingsley's sideswipes at contemporary issues such as child labor and the British education system, and they offer a rich satiric take on the great scientific debates of the day. The story's linguistic and narrative oddities make it an unclassifiable fantasy that is both a naturalist's handbook and an aquatic Pilgrim's Progress, and its vibrant symbolism also reveals some of Kingsley's more private obsessions regarding cleanliness and sanitation reform. An insightful Introduction by Robert Douglas-Fairhurst explores the genesis and context of Kingsley's tale, its linguistic oddities and multiple genres, its delight in nature and scientific discovery mixed with romance and mythic symbolism. Explanatory notes provide a wealth of background information concerning contemporary figures, literature, and events alluded to in the text. The book also includes part of Kingsley's essay "The Wonders of the Shore," in which he first wrote about the myriad creatures living underwater. An attractive gift edition with ribbon marker, wood-engraved chapter initials, and the original illustrations, this volume captures the full richness of Kingsley's bizarre but compelling fairy tale.

• The book includes 10 unique illustrations that are relevant to its content.ung Tom is a chimney-sweeper's boy who one day falls into a river and drowns, only to be transformed into a water-baby. Through his encounters with friendly fish, curious lobsters, and characters such as Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby, he sloughs off his selfish nature and earns his just reward. Tom's comic adventures are constantly interrupted by Kingsley's sideswipes at contemporary issues such as child labor and the British education system, and they offer a rich satiric take on the great scientific debates of the day. The story's linguistic and narrative oddities make it an unclassifiable fantasy that is both a naturalist's handbook and an aquatic Pilgrim's Progress, and its vibrant symbolism also reveals some of Kingsley's more private obsessions regarding cleanliness and sanitation reform. An insightful Introduction by Robert Douglas-Fairhurst explores the genesis and context of Kingsley's tale, its linguistic oddities and multiple genres, its delight in nature and scientific discovery mixed with romance and mythic symbolism. Explanatory notes provide a wealth of background information concerning contemporary figures, literature, and events alluded to in the text. The book also includes part of Kingsley's essay "The Wonders of the Shore," in which he first wrote about the myriad creatures living underwater. An attractive gift edition with ribbon marker, wood-engraved chapter initials, and the original illustrations, this volume captures the full richness of Kingsley's bizarre but compelling fairy tale.

• The book includes 10 unique illustrations that are relevant to its content.ung Tom is a chimney-sweeper's boy who one day falls into a river and drowns, only to be transformed into a water-baby. Through his encounters with friendly fish, curious lobsters, and characters such as Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby, he sloughs off his selfish nature and earns his just reward. Tom's comic adventures are constantly interrupted by Kingsley's sideswipes at contemporary issues such as child labor and the British education system, and they offer a rich satiric take on the great scientific debates of the day. The story's linguistic and narrative oddities make it an unclassifiable fantasy that is both a naturalist's handbook and an aquatic Pilgrim's Progress, and its vibrant symbolism also reveals some of Kingsley's more private obsessions regarding cleanliness and sanitation reform. An insightful Introduction by Robert Douglas-Fairhurst explores the genesis and context of Kingsley's tale, its linguistic oddities and multiple genres, its delight in nature and scientific discovery mixed with romance and mythic symbolism. Explanatory notes provide a wealth of background information concerning contemporary figures, literature, and events alluded to in the text. The book also includes part of Kingsley's essay "The Wonders of the Shore," in which he first wrote about the myriad creatures living underwater. An attractive gift edition with ribbon marker, wood-engraved chapter initials, and the original illustrations, this volume captures the full richness of Kingsley's bizarre but compelling fairy tale.