The River Spirit

Lucy Strange's The River Spirit is poignant, examining the reality of life for poverty-stricken children in Victorian Britain. The characters encourage much empathy in the reader as the work of a child chimney sweep is described honestly and clearly. The cruelty of child labour is balanced by the kindness the children show to each other and by their resilience, despite their resignation that they have to climb up the flues for their master, Mr Crow.

The children's gentle acceptance of their fate, in spite of the fear of being trapped and choked, makes this a tough read but the supernatural element softens the sadness of the story for younger readers. Nevertheless, the reality for older chimney sweeps was that their survival increased their risk making this an excellent class shared read because of the thought-provoking nature of the story.

The River Spirit includes a historical note at the end which adds a factual account of the life of George Brewster, a 12-year-old chimney sweep, whose death in 1875 led to a campaign to improve working conditions for 'climbing boys' and drew society's attention to this dangerous form of exploitative child labour.

This fictionalised story of Tom Waterman is published by Barrington Stoke in dyslexia friendly format on buff paper with plenty of space between chunks of text, and charming illustrations by Julia Moscardo which enhance the story further. The most powerfully evocative picture is a full page depiction of Tom in a cut-through of a chimney - this is particularly provocative and would be an excellent prompt for creative writing.

Highly recommended for older primary school students and above. An excellent addition to accessible reads for a school library.

80 pages / Reviewed by Ruth Cornish, school librarian

Suggested Reading Age 9+