The Water Babies

Download The Water Babies and discover how a young chimney sweep embarks on a series of adventures and lessons of Christian redemption.


The Water Babies is a children's novel by Charles Kingsley written in 1863. The book was extremely popular in England and was a mainstay of British children's literature for many decades, but eventually fell out of favor due to its prejudices against Irish, Jews, Americans, and the poor.


The story follows Tom in his life as a climbing boy for a chimney-sweep. After mistakenly entering the room of a young girl at a lord's manor, who is startled by his soot-covered appearance, he is chased and drowns into a river, where he is transformed into a "water baby" by fairies. By proving his willingness to do things he does not like, provided they are the right things to do, Tom earns himself a return to human form, and becomes "a great man of science."


The Water Babies is a controversial book and was intended in part as a satire, a plot against child labor, and the many of the common prejudices of that time period.


Download The Water Babies for an amusing and adventure-filled reading experience!