
The Water-Babies (1863) is one of the strangest & most powerful children's books ever published. Written by an Anglican clergyman with an insatiable love of science the story combines an uplifting moral about redemption with a crash course in evolutionary theory & has an imaginative exuberance equalled only by Lewis Carroll. Young Tom is a chimney-sweeper's boy who one day falls into a river & drowns only to be transformed into a water-baby. Through his encounters with friendly fish curious lobsters & characters such as Mrs Doasyouwouldbedoneby he sloughs off his selfish nature & earns his just reward. Tom's comic adventures are constantly interrupted by Kingsley's sideswipes at contemporary issues such as child labour & the British education system & they offer a rich satiric take on the great scientific debates of the day. The story's linguistic & narrative oddities make it an unclassifiable fantasy that is both a naturalist's handbook & an aquatic Pilgrim's Progress & its vibrant symbolism also reveals some of Kingsley's more private obsessions regarding cleanliness & sanitation reform. This new edition reprints the original complete text & illustrations &
Includes:: a lively introduction & notes that reveal the full richness of this bizarre but compelling fairy tale.