num_pages: 224
description: Tom, a poor orphan, is employed by the villainous chimney-sweep, Grimes, to climb up inside flues to clear away the soot. While engaged in this dreadful task, he loses his way and emerges in the bedroom of Ellie, the young daughter of the house who mistakes him for a thief. He runs away, and, hot and bothered, he slips into a cooling stream, falls fast asleep, and becomes a water baby.In this new life, he meets all sorts of aquatic creatures, including an engaging old lobster, other water babies, and at last reaches St Branden's Isle where he encounters the fierce Mrs Bedonbyasyoudid and the motherly Mrs Doasyouwouldbedoneby. After a long and arduous quest to the Other-end-of-Nowhere young Tom achieves his heart's desire.
language: English
title: The Water Babies
titlecomplete: The Water Babies
characters: Mr Grimes, Tom, Mrs Doasyouwouldbedoneby, Miss Ellie, Mrs Bedonebyasyoudid
genres: Childrens, Young Adult, Literature, Victorian, Fantasy, Classics, Fairy Tales, British Literature, Fiction, 19th Century
ratings_count: 8982
awards: awardedAt: -220896000000
name: Lewis Carroll Shelf Award
publisher: Wordsworth Editions Ltd