The water-babies

Tom is a wretchedly poor chimney sweep, just a boy, and yet without any education or religion or family and completely subject to the cruel whims of his master. He happens upon a beautiful rich girl in the process of cleaning the chimneys of a large home, and a misunderstanding occurs, and Tom runs away and (seemingly) drowns. He doesn't drown, however; he is changed into a water-baby, and he is sent off on adventures and trials by fairies to improve his moral character.

I was of two minds about this book: I loved the clever writing, the wild twists and turns that come from the mind of every young child, but I didn't care for Victorian moralizing. In the end, I loved the zaniness of the story enough to forgive the didactic bits.

I have no idea what children of today would make of this story, but I think they'd be shocked to be presented with Tom's life and they'd enjoy his wild adventures in the water.