Sweep: The Story of A Girl and Her Monster (Jonathan Auxier)

This is one of those books that I'd love to read with kids. It's a little too much for grade 3 though, I think.  It made me want to read more by this author. It came highly recommended and did not disappoint.

The main character, Nan, really drew me in and had me cheering for her. It made me want to learn more about the history of child labor and sweeps and caring for orphans. A good twist to the lovely Mary Poppins stories. It's kind of a fairy tale, historical fiction book full of good cliff hangers and plot twists.

“ Brooms Up!”

“With brush and pail and soot and song!
A sweep brings luck all season long!”


Goodreads Says:
For nearly a century, Victorian London relied on "climbing boys"--orphans owned by chimney sweeps--to clean flues and protect homes from fire. The work was hard, thankless and brutally dangerous. Eleven-year-old Nan Sparrow is quite possibly the best climber who ever lived--and a girl. With her wits and will, she's managed to beat the deadly odds time and time again. 
But when Nan gets stuck in a deadly chimney fire, she fears her time has come. Instead, she wakes to find herself in an abandoned attic. And she is not alone. Huddled in the corner is a mysterious creature--a golem--made from ash and coal. This is the creature that saved her from the fire. 
Sweep is the story of a girl and her monster. Together, these two outcasts carve out a life together--saving one another in the process.


Notes: 

March 30, 2019 – 

page 8

 

 2.17% "Why does before get a capital: The first rule was you never asked another clinber about his life Before."

March 30, 2019 – 

page 32

 

 8.7% "The Sweep had never understood how a person could sleep through a sunrise. "It's like Heaven itself is offering you a gift you're too lazy to open.""

March 30, 2019 – 

page 35

 

 9.51% "...Miss Meyhew's Seminary (?) for Young Ladies"

March 30, 2019 – 

page 72

 

 19.57% "Nan watched Charlie watching his first sunrise. His eyes were impossibly wide.

It's like heaven itself is offering us a gift."

March 30, 2019 – 

page 72

 

 19.57% "Home is a safe place to put your things so burglars don't touch them."

March 30, 2019 – 

page 146

 

 39.67% "The best way to inspire a love of reading is to read something you love...even if it is difficult."

March 30, 2019 – 

page 130

 

 35.33% ""I did not have big arms then," Charlie said. "I used my head to push the bricks away. And then I helped in my Charlie way.:
Nan was surprised to hear how clearly he remembered all this. He was usually quite forgetful. "What do you mean by your 'Charlie way'?" she asked.
The creature shrugged and looked down at his hands. "Um..." Loose soot crumbled from his fingers. "I made it wake up in you.""

March 30, 2019 – 

page 131

 

 35.6% "Nan shook her head. "Made what wake up?"
He looked up at her. "Your heart.""

April 10, 2019 – 

page 131

 

 35.6% "Nan shook her head. "Made what wake up?"
He looked up at her. "Your heart.""

April 10, 2019 – 

page 166

 

 45.11% "Nan told Charlie about the whole thing. How the baby Jesus was born in a basket and how a wicked kind tried to kidnap him but then a big bearded angel named Father Christmas fought the king...he tossed the baby Jesus down the chimney of a girl named Mary, and that was the first Christmas present."....now every year in winter, Father Christmas spends one night bringing presents down the chimneys of good boys and girls"

April 10, 2019 – 

page 180

 

 48.91% "That's how it works, doesn't it? We are saved by saving others."

April 10, 2019 – 

page 212

 

 57.61% "My whole life, folks have treated me like I was nothing-just because of how I looked. And maybe that's the problem. If we all could just ignore the way other people looked, then we could see who they really were."

April 10, 2019 – 

page 234

 

 63.59% "Nan woke from a dream about the Sweep. He had been mending her coat, as he often did, and she had noticed something about his own clothes -how worn and tattered they had become. With every stitch he gave her, he lost one of his own."

April 10, 2019 – 

page 282

 

 76.63% ""It ain't going to happen ma'am," Whittles said. "We're inside their houses every day - right under their noses. It's been this way for hundreds of years. Some folks are very good at not seeing things they don't want to see.""