Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster

Jonathan Auxier Penguin Random House

This book won the Governor General’s Literary Award for text in young people’s literature this year. With Dickensian overtones, this story of 11-year-old Nan Sparrow and the chimney sweep who cared for her from the time she was a baby until he disappeared from her life when she was six, is set in 1875 London, England. Nan, along with boys as young as six, climb up chimneys too narrow for Wilkie Crudd, clean the flues and deliver sacks of soot to their master. It is hard work for hardly any pay. Nan, who is Crudd’s best climber, often dreams about her Sweep, treasuring the small bit of char he left her — a clump of soot with a glowing ember at its heart. When she almost dies in a chimney fire, that bit of char saves her, it having turned into Charlie, a golem with a body shaped from ashes and soot, whose task is to protect Nan. The adventures that follow make for a compelling read. Ages 8 to 88.