The Water-Babies, A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby is a children's novel by Charles Kingsley between 1862–63. It is written as part satire, satirising the events

In a fairy world under the river, Tom, a runaway chimney-boy, jumps into the stream and turns into a water baby.

The Water-Babies(1863) has claim to being the most peculiar book ever to achieve the status of a children's classic. The story follows Tom in his land-life as a

The adventures of Tom, a sooty little chimney-sweep with a great longing to be clean, who is stolen by fairies and turned into a water-baby.

An illustrated monthly magazine in the interest of better art, better work and a better more reasonable way of living.