7 h 46 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if a chimney sweep could escape beneath the water—but still had to learn how to be kind?
Tom spends his days climbing chimneys for his brutal master, Mr. Grimes. He cannot read, and kindness is scarce. At Harthover Place, a wrong turn brings him into Ellie's beautiful bedroom. Then a stream leads him into a stranger world, where he becomes a tiny water-baby who can breathe beneath the surface.
In The Water-Babies, Charles Kingsley fills rivers and seas with talking creatures, strange lessons, and fairies who teach through consequences. Tom longs to be clean, but learning kindness takes more than water. Beneath the adventure runs a fierce anger at child labour, alongside comic nature writing and jokes aimed at scientists.
What you’ll discover
- A world beneath water Follow Tom among salmon, otters, and lobsters, where familiar creatures share an unfamiliar world.
- Kindness with consequences Meet Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid, whose punishments make wrongdoers feel the hurt they cause.
- Comfort beside stern lessons Discover Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby, a motherly fairy who guides children with sweets and stories.
- Anger beneath the wonder Look beyond the fairy tale to Kingsley's attack on treating poor children as cheap labour.
- A storyteller beside you Enjoy a narrator who speaks directly to you, jokes, scolds, and wanders into natural history.
Who will love it
For readers who love fairy tales with a point, Victorian oddities, and storytellers who speak directly to you. It also suits families reading aloud, with talking creatures, underwater adventures, and lessons in kindness.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Tom is a sweep with no hope
- A chimney leads to a clean room
- Tom wakes as a water-baby
- Two fairies teach by consequences
- The book is an angry satire
- A storyteller who talks to you
Who’s who
- TomA very young chimney sweep who is dirty, ignorant and rough, but who longs to be clean and slowly learns to be kind.
- Mr. GrimesTom's brutal master, a drinker who beats the boy and treats him as a tool for climbing chimneys.
- EllieA gentle girl from Harthover Place whose room Tom enters by accident, and who later teaches him in the water.
- Mrs. BedonebyasyoudidA stern fairy who punishes unkindness by letting wrongdoers feel the pain they have given to others.
- Mrs. DoasyouwouldbedonebyA kind, motherly fairy who loves all children and comforts and guides them with sweets and stories.
- Mother CareyA calm, huge figure who does not make creatures herself but lets them make themselves.
- The IrishwomanA small, kind stranger who speaks to Tom on the road and seems to know more about him than she says.
Formats and delivery
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- Large-print eBook
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- Audiobook
- 7 h 46 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 8 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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25 languages, side by side
Read and hear Les Enfants de l’eau in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Les Enfants de l’eau
by Charles Kingsley · 1863
Tom the chimney sweep becomes a water-baby and enters an underwater world that tests his kindness and courage.
Medium level5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
The Water-Babies is a fairy tale for children and grown-ups, written by Charles Kingsley and published in 1863. Kingsley was a clergyman, a naturalist and a social reformer, and he wrote the book for his youngest son.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Tom is a sweep with no hope
The story opens with Tom, a little chimney sweep who works for a rough master named Mr. Grimes. Tom cannot read and cannot pray. He is never washed, and he is beaten more often than he is fed. He climbs up inside dark, sooty flues, and the work is cruel and dangerous.
Kingsley does not hide how bad this is. In his day boys like Tom were sent up chimneys because they were small enough to fit, and many were hurt or killed by it. The author is angry about this, and the anger shows in the first pages. He also notes that Tom does not know he is badly off, because he has never known anything else.
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What is The Water-Babies about?
It is about Tom, a young chimney sweep who is treated cruelly, runs away and becomes a tiny water-baby. He lives in a magical underwater world and slowly learns to be kind and good.
Who are Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid and Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby?
They are two fairies who watch over the water-babies. One punishes selfish acts by letting the wrongdoer feel the same pain, and the other is kind and loving to every child.
Is The Water-Babies a true story and when was it written?
No, it is a fairy tale. Charles Kingsley wrote it in the early 1860s and it appeared in 1863. It is rooted in real conditions, as chimney sweeps who were children did exist in Victorian England.
The author
Charles Kingsley
1819–1875 · English novelist and clergyman
Charles Kingsley (1819–1875) was a British clergyman, historian and novelist. He was born in Devon, England, and served as rector of Eversley in Hampshire from 1844 until his death. He wrote The Heroes, published in 1856, and The Water-Babies, published in 1863. He also taught history at Cambridge University.
More by Charles Kingsley
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