BOOK REVIEWS
JUVENILE FICTION
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Four Stars (out of Five)
The villains are vicious; the climbers are pitiful, courageous, and tender: and the girlfriend is sweet and innocent. Youngsters will love them all.
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Stephen B. Hauge’s first historical novel, Dark Against the Sky, is an absorbing look into the lives of the climbing boys, or young chimney sweeps, in early nineteenth-century London. This endearing story details the adventures of Tommy Simpson and his winsome and supportive “band of brothers,” who roam the city covered in chimney soot looking for their next shilling.
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Dark Against the Sky is action driven from the very first page. Although the plot is fast paced, the action scenes and descriptions are nicely blended, and the entire book has a smooth cadence.
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Hauge’s well-researched descriptions of the time period and London cityscape include beautiful little sketches of people and neighborhoods. The language used to describe these scenes chimes with bell-like accuracy and vivid images. At one point, the author describes a local scenes and states, “Tommy passed a flock of housemaids in their white aprons polishing door handles, and an old driver and coachman trying to recover the lost sparkle of their carriage with rags.” Description such as this invites entry into the story, and makes it easy to see characters within the specific setting.
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Hauge describes the dangerous work of the young chimney sweeps with aplomb, providing enjoyable tension during the story while never seeming contrived. He creates believable bonds between the climbers when favorite characters get caught in the turn of a chimney and are almost crushed by a fall in the flue. The boys care for each other like brothers and nurse each other back to health when a climb goes awry. Every time Tommy clears a chimney, audiences will fear for his life. And every time he succeeds, one feels the deep satisfaction that he has done it again. At one point, Hauge captures Tommy’s joy at the end of a climb and writes, “He pulled himself up, yanked off his cap, and broke into a victorious shout that resounded in the clean air.” Hauge’s diction pops and his nicely crafted sentences create a palpable scene.
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Tommy is a model protagonist. He has a goal, he encounters problems, and exhibits persistence and leadership at every point along the way. Hauge also gives life to supporting characters. He successfully writes the dialogue in dialect, which provides an authentic feel. The villains are vicious; the climbers are pitiful, courageous, and tender: and Tommy’s girlfriend is sweet and innocent. Youngsters will love them all.
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Although there are several small typos and a few incomplete plot lines, Dark Against the Sky is extremely enjoyable. The writing is creative and accurate to the time period. The book cover and the small, black-and-white sketches, at the beginning of each chapter, fit the story nicely.
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The book ts best suited for advanced readers looking to expand their vocabulary and interest in history, but parents who are looking for something to entertain their beginning readers shouldn’t overlook this charming chapter book. All ages will become entranced by this fast paced historical tale.
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Colby Cedar Schoene
Stephen B. Hauge’s Dark Against the Sky is an accomplished Dickensian morality tale for young adults, set in London in 1834.
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Young Tommy is snatched from his parents and coerced into working as 2 climbing boy for the “swarthy” master sweep, Mr. Kelly. Tim, Paul, Peter, and Harry are also forced into this “barbaric” and “horrid trade,” and the five parentless chums forma “band of brothers,” protecting one another from Kelly’s sleights and slaps, provisioning the rare piece of fruit or crust of bread to split equally, and plucking up each other’s disconsolate spirits.
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Every day but Sunday during October and until May, the boys ascend into a chimney’s “pitch- black darkness” mindful that any misstep or wrong turn might plummet them to their deaths or trap them in a suffocating flue. Kelly pockets their wages and beats them if they don’t clean four chimneys before noontime. Tommy’s memories of his mother’s cooking and “smiling” blue eyes and his father’s storytelling and strong, cobbler hands sustain him throughout his daily grind. He’s determined to reunite with his parents, and he and Peter devise a risky and adventurous plan to find them.
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Hauge is a skillful storyteller. He renders the squalor of 19th century London in prose that is as Precise as it is palpable. Manifest is the relentless cold, hunger, penury, and cruelty under which Hauge’s resiliently pragmatic characters toil: A comparison to Oliver Twist is apt praise. The novel’s dialogue echoes a pitch-perfect cockney accent, and the plot insists that salvation prevails.
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Smart problem solving and Tommy’s brave leadership help the climbing boys conquer seemingly insurmountable obstacles on their own, which serves as a lesson in self-sufficiency for the novel’s young adult audience.
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Dark Against the Sky is an authentic, evocative, and classic portrayal of the human capacity to endure. It is a winning tale.
This adventurous middle-grade novel takes young readers through two days in the life of a “climbing boy,” or chimney sweep, in mid 19th-century London.
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Tommy earns his living by cleaning the insides of sooty Victorian chimneys. The work, which pays only a few pennies per week, is dangerous. There is always the risk of a fall, and the soot can cause a fatal cough, blindness and infectious sores. Additionally, the young boys survive only as long as they are useful to the “master sweeps” who are their supervisors, landlords and caregivers. Once they grow too big to fit inside the narrow chimneys, however, they will be let go and evicted. Tommy lives with several other climbing boys, most of whom were runaways or were sold to the sweeps by their destitute families. But Tommy was kidnapped from a loving home, snatched from the park in a burlap sack. The book, Hauge’s first, focuses on the child’s efforts to find his family and a place in the world that’s far away from the bleak future of a climbing boy. Hauge’s well-researched novel brims with historical asides and details about the economic realities of Britain’s poor and working class. At times, the reader longs for more illustrative descriptions, through Tommy’s eyes, to give a stronger sense of place and time. The plot advances via dialogue that’s somewhat hampered by the author’s uneven use of dialect. But the story is a real corker, and though the adventures are no doubt more than the average climbing boy of the time experienced, they are not overly romanticized. We’re left with some questions at the end: What about Tommy’s dream to be a riverboat captain? What about his plan to go into business with the other climbing boys? Still, the young readers will most likely follow Tommy’s story with interest and learn something about Victorian England in the process.
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A fast-paced story with a wealth of historical detail.
Reviewed by: Nicole Olson
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Author Stephen B. Hauge depicts the grim life of street children in London in 1834. He tells an adventurous tale of a band of chimney sweeps under the grips of a cruel and greedy master. Though his childhood is chained to gruesome work – Tommy makes the most of it alongside his friends while he yearns to be reunited with his father.
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This book is great for reading aloud to children or for early readers to attempt on their own. The chapters are short and ideal for reading one chapter before bed (though there is plenty of action – parents may be asked to read two!) Children can learn a lot about history and London – the dialogue is written in British vernacular which makes it easy for parents to get in character. Though he is mean, the boss of the chimney sweeps is quite a memorable character because of his accent and choice of words.
Hauge takes readers on a journey into the streets of London 1834. This tale allows for many readers to see how blessed they are in this modern century where children do not have to perform hard labor. While the story is full of history, it is all vivid and exciting. There is not a dull moment in Tommy’s journey to make sense of his past. The author uses cleverly descriptive language; he transports readers into the chimneys, the streets of London, and the cold house in which Tommy lives. This book will surely enrich any youngster’s vocabulary and reading ability.
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Heartwarming dialogue between the boys brings a smile to any reader’s face. All ages are sure to enjoy this book and have fun while reading about a completely foreign world. While these boys are from a completely different era – it is possible to relate with them. They have dreams and desires just as we all do. The characters grow as the story progresses; the author does a wonderful job of developing each one. Nobody gets lost or left behind in the story and readers can follow along easily.
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In addition to a riveting adventure story the book features interesting line drawings by Cathleen Daniels. At the start of every chapter these are great tools for readers to understand what the characters look like and what they wear. Daniels shows the characters in the story’s backdrop of London in 1834. Drawings like these help readers to imagine the plot in their heads or make predictions about what might come next.
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