The Water-Babies

Rating:
Summary: Good!
Review: This book is really good. Some of the words are a little hard for young kids, but if your parents can help you it's enjoyable. Kingsley's style and allegorical references make this a delight to the senses, not only as a story, but as an example of a writer who truly enjoys his craft.

Rating:
Summary: The Water Babies
Review: This book was a wonderful novel to read. It showed how little kids were treated durning this time period. Once the faries found Tom his life changed forever. The author explained how he started out as little boy and saying bad words to how he changed and in to a understanding boy. The book is a wonderful read because it shows what happens to others who don't know what it's like. Not all of this is true because it is a fairy tale. The author's one quote that stayed with me the most is "You're not supposed to belive all of this because it's a fairy tale even if you do believe. This is a powerful story and should be read to little children. It will show them that being bad is not the way to go. If kids learn tpo be nice when they are young then it can stop hatred and people being mean in future years.

Rating:
Summary: A classic mid-Victorian fairy tale
Review: [A warning--there is no unabridged version of "Water Babies" now in print. The Puffin notes that it is abridged, but the Wonder Book with the beautiful Wilcox-Smith illustrations does not state that it is abridged, but it is. Check university libraries for 1898 or so versions illustrated by "Linley Sambourne."] "The Water Babies" first published in 1863 is a classic mid-Victorian fairy tale that also reveals some of the preoccupations and anxieties of Victorian culture including sanitary health reform (hence the emphasis on cleanliness); Christian socialism (that is social reform based on Christian teachings); child labor and child abuse; and primary education. The dark side of Victorian culture is also revealed in this tale--especially in the original unabridged versions. Here we see a philosophy of social Darwinism that leads easily to notions of white supremacy as well as much anti-Irish sentiment--this at a time when Ireland had still not recovered from the horrific "Great Famine" of 1845-1852. There is also a sub-text of anxiety about adolescent male sexuality--of young men needing to maintain sexualy purity before marriage--again, the emphasis on Tom purifying and cleansing himself. Although written for children, it is a rather difficult text whose language does not invite the young reader in in the way that the Oz books or the Alice books do. I think its real use is as a document of mid-Victorian culture and is best read in the context of other "social problem" or "condition-of-England" novels such as Kingsley's "Alton Locke" or Dickens's "Hard Times."