Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster by Jonathan Auxier

I'm #MiddleGradeMarch -ing and I started off with a bang! Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster by Jonathan Auxier first got on my radar when @whatmeganreads storied about it ages ago - and I'm so glad that I finally made time for it. Sweep is set in Victorian London and tells the story of climbers - orphaned children owned by chimney sweeps made to climb inside chimneys to keep them clean and functional. Y'all, middle grade me would have loved this book. Heck, adult me loved this book! It's sweet and sad and it's got a feisty female protagonist and a folklore twist and if you or a young person in your life love historical fiction, this is a great choice. I can't wait to do some more reading about this heartbreaking and very real child labor, and thanks to Auxier's afterword, which has some great resources for further reading, I know exactly where to start.