Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster

Description

A 2019Sydney Taylor BookAward Winner! It's been five years since the Sweep disappeared. Orphaned and alone, Nan Sparrow had no other choice but to work for a ruthless chimney sweep named Wilkie Crudd. She spends her days sweeping out chimneys. The job is dangerous and thankless, but with her wits and will, Nan has managed to beat the deadly odds time and time again. When Nan gets stuck in a chimney fire, she fears the end has come. Instead, she wakes to find herself unharmed in an abandoned attic. And she is not alone. Huddled in the corner is a mysterious creature-a golem-made from soot and ash.Sweep is the story of a girl and her monster. Together, these two outcasts carve out a new life-saving each other in the process. Lyrically told by one of today's most powerful storytellers, Sweep is a heartrending adventure about the everlasting gifts of friendship and wonder.

Jonathan Auxier is the New York Times bestselling author of The Night Gardener, Sophie Quire and the Last Storyguard, and Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes, which the Wall Street Journal called "as delightful a magical story as readers . . . will hope to find." He lives in Pittsburgh with his family.

"Mr. Auxier has drawn from history, mythology, and a deep well of personal love and suffering to create a stirring work of magical realism for readers ages 8 to 12." -- The Wall Street Journal "Many of the most entertaining and touching scenes involve Nan schooling Charlie on everything from the alphabet to the weather. ("I broke the snow!" Charlie cries when the flakes melt against his hot cinder hands.) When juxtaposed with flashbacks of the old Sweep raising Nan, these bits add a layer of beautifully bittersweet parenthood allegory to a tale that is both uplifting and heartbreaking. When Charlie has an 'Of Mice and Men' moment, accidentally crushing a baby bird, readers are torn between sympathy, frustration and fear for the future of this oddly beautiful little family. But as one character wisely says about caring for others, 'If you're not afraid, you're not doing it right.'" -- The New York Times Book Review "A STUNNING historical fantasy novel about the power of friendship, our potential for courage, and the beauty of remembering loved ones.... A MUST-BUY where middle grade fantasy is in demand." - School Library Journal -- School Library Journal "A BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN middle grade novel with both mystery and magic." -- BookRiot "[An] engrossing fantasy set in Victorian England." -- The Boston Globe