There are all sorts of wonderful
things a person might see very early in the morning…And if you are very, very
lucky, you might even catch a glimpse of the girl and her Sweep.
Look! Here they are now,
approaching through the early fog: a thin man with a long broom over one
shoulder, the end bobbing up and down with every step. And trailing behind him,
pail in hand, a little girl, who loves that man more than anything in the world.
Welcome
to Victorian London, where “climbing boys,” or orphans hired by chimney sweeps,
fit in narrow spots, cleaning soot out of the chimneys on both sides of the
Thames.
In
Jonathan Auxier’s middle grade novel, Sweep:
The Story of a Girl and Her Monster, the reader is introduced one such
climber, young Nan Sparrow, who works for the horrible Wilkie Crudd. Nan is
Master Crudd’s best climber, and she’s better than the boys. But when a
dangerous climb through a chimney goes wrong, and Nan narrowly escapes with her
life, she finds it’s a piece of charred clump of soot that she keeps in her
pocket that saves her. Except, when it saves Nan from burning, it is no longer
a small and insignificant piece of charcoal, but the soot has come to life—a golem. The golem—called Charlie—and Nan,
must navigate chimneys on their own, hiding out in the so-said to be haunted
House of 100 Chimneys, befriending the mudlark Toby Squall, the young boy
searching for treasure to peddle in the banks of the Thames, and his rat, Prospero.
Together, they will search for the clues leading them to Nan’s original Sweep,
who disappeared when she was very young.
In a
wondrous story that sweeps you off your feet, do not miss Jonathan Auxier’s
newest novel for young readers. If you take the magic of Mary Poppins, throw in a dash of Dickens, add the heart of Nan
Sparrow, then you have an original story of friendship, hope, and magic. Then
you have Sweep: The Story of a Girl and
Her Monster.
Looking for a signed, first edition copy of SWEEP? Click here!
