Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster
By: Jonathan Auxier
My Rating: FIVE OUT OF FIVE STARS
Best for: 12 and up

Chim, Chim, Cher-ee?

Sweep: The Story of a Girl and her Monster is another from Middle Grade author extraordinaire, Jonathan Auxier (OX-ee-aa).

It’s hard to find really great Middle Grade books. So many Middle Grade stories are either too simple or too complex for their audience. It’s a tricky age! There is such a disparity in ready ability between 8 and 12. Writing a story that’s within reach of the weakest, but able to hold the interest of the strongest takes a special skill. So when I come across authors and their stories who hit that sweet spot, I make it a point to celebrate them.

Jonathan Auxier describes himself as “an author of strange stories for strange children.” (LOVE!) He’s found that sweet spot. I’ve been cruising through his books the last few weeks, and I keep being impressed. So, let’s celebrate Jonathan Auxier and his wonderful Middle Grade stories!

Sweep is a bit of a Hans Christian Andersen fable, set in a Charles Dickens Victorian London. It tells the true story of the time period’s orphan chimney sweeps, who were held as indentured servants and forced to climb through the inside of chimney’s–big and small–with their brushes, cleaning soot from the flues to prevent fires. These child sweeps aren’t singing “Chim, Chim, Cher-ee,” though. There’s nothing “lucky” about them, and there are many “‘appier blokes” then these children. If you’re claustrophobic, this book might trigger cold sweats. It’s a primer on the grim reality of Oliver Twist’s London, and I learned things I didn’t know before.

For example, it wasn’t until the Chimney Sweepers Act in 1875 that marked the end of children being forced to work as sweeps. In the authors note, Auxier explains. “This act proved a bellwether for child labor reform in other industries, paving the way for changes throughout the industrialized world. Every person today who grew up with free education and worker protections owes a debt to these children.”

This story is about Nan, an 11-year-old orphan chimney sweep. Through flashbacks, we learn about her past and her father, simply called The Sweep. The Sweep protected her, taught her, and loved her until he vanished one night when she was only six years old. He left his hat and a small piece of char with dimples and marks that looked like a face and always felt warm in Nan’s pocket. These became Nan’s only treasures.

When a sweeping accident gives her an opportunity to escape her servitude, she takes it—although it means living in hiding and fending for herself. But how did she survive an accident that should have killed her? Is that face on her char…coming alive?!

Sweep is about deep friendships, learning that you need people around you, serving others, looking past soot-covered faces to see a real person, nurturing and being nurtured. It’s about growing up. It’s a heart-tugging story of deep friendship set amidst the adversity of survival, and it teaches in beautiful ways about the kind of love that leads us to make sacrifices for others.

You can be a light when it’s dark. You can grieve but endure. You can despair but still love. You can hurt but still sacrifice. In every fragment of sadness, there remains a glimmer of hope to cling to. The lesson is this: Profound love is what transforms our existence into a worthwhile adventure.

One of my favorite lines: “We are saved by saving others.”

Keep the tissues handy for this one. But the tears will be the tears you are happy to cry because of the things you have learned, the people you’ve met, and the lessons they taught.

This is an easy five stars. No content concerns, but the claustrophobia triggers are real. Best for 12 and up.

Happy Reading!