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Tom and the Sweets

From The Water-Babies: A Fairy Tale for a Land-Baby by Charles Kingsley

This reader is adapted from The Water-Babies: A Fairy Tale for a Land-Baby by Charles Kingsley, first published in 1863. It is a moral fantasy in which a young chimney-sweep named Tom falls into a river, becomes a water-baby, and learns how to be good through consequences rather than punishment. This episode shows that doing what we want all the time does not make us happy — and that telling the truth is the first step to being forgiven. The text reflects its era; a few period terms have been modernised. Kingsley wrote the book for his own son, blending fairy-tale adventure with lessons about character and responsibility.

Band

Purple · Pre-readers and first readersTypical starting range: ages 4–5

Length

short · about 315 words in 6 sections · 4 pictures

Source

The Water-Babies: A Fairy Tale for a Land-Baby, Charles Kingsley

First published

see the About page in the reader

Regions

Canada · United States

Included formats

• · Web reader and PDF
• · EPUB for e-readers
• · Home-print sheet
• · Folded booklet
• · Binder edition (8.5 × 11)
• · Worksheet
• · Quick Check (6 questions) with answer key
• · Read-aloud script
• · Colouring page
• · Teacher’s Edition (members)

Readers are engineered from the original public-domain text with AI under HummingRead’s published canon and Content Philosophy, checked by automated audit and sampled by a person. Pictures are made with AI to HummingRead’s brief for each story. How a reader is made.

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