When we meet Jim, he is living in extreme poverty with his mother who is clearly extremely unwell and his two sisters. Jim spends their last coins on a hot pie (with plenty of gravy). It really is the last coin and so it is not long until they find themselves evicted. Mrs. Jarvis takes the children to a house where she once worked. She is able to leave the two girls there but not Jim. They walk off into the night and then she collapses in the street. Jim lives in fear of the workhouse but that is exactly where he is taken now that his mother has died.
Jim adapts to the brutal life in the workhouse, but he dreams of escape. One day the opportunity to do just this arises but Jim has no idea that he is about to lose his freedom again.
"Nick thrust a shovel at Jim. The basket hovered just above the hold and Nick eased it down and steadied it and started shoveling coal into it ... Jim stabbed at the coals with his shovel. He had to lift it nearly as high as himself before he could tip it into the basket, and the few coals he managed to lift slid off and bumped against him."
The hours of this are long and dangerous. Jim is hardly given any food and Nick controls Jim by using his ferocious dog. It feels as though Jim will never escape.
Street Child was first published in 1993. I have listed this book for senior primary ages 10+. It looks like a junior book with only 170 pages but the violence and cruelty inflicted on young Jim Jarvis are sure to upset very sensitive readers. There were times I had to stop and take a breath as I read the way Grimy Nick treated Jim.
On her web page Berlie Doherty has links to a wealth of materials associated with this book.
Bookseller blurb: When his mother dies, Jim Jarvis is left all alone in London. He is sent to the workhouse but quickly escapes, choosing a hard life on the streets of the city over the confines of the workhouse walls. Struggling to survive, Jim finally finds some friends… only to be snatched away and made to work for the remorselessly cruel Grimy Nick, constantly guarded by his vicious dog, Snipe. Will Jim ever manage to be free? (This is) the unforgettable tale of an orphan in Victorian London, based on the boy whose plight inspired Dr Barnardo to found his famous children’s homes.
I have shared four cover designs because I think this can be a good discussion starter with a class - talking about which cover the students like and why and aspects of cover design such as placement of the title, font, colour choices, and the way a cover might help you predict the plot of a story.
Here is the Kirkus review. Book Bag review.
I do need to give a word of warning about Barnardos homes. Wikipedia says: "Barnardo's was also implicated in (the) inquiry for sending British children to Australia in the mid-20th century, where some were tortured, ... and enslaved. Barnardo's acknowledges its role in this "well intentioned" but "deeply misguided" policy supported by the government of the time." I would not use Street Child as an impetus to research Dr Bernado and his charity, but you could use parts of this book to explore life in Victoria England and also with an older group as a way to talk about the United Nations Rights of the Child. As an adult reader if you are curious about Bernardos take a look at this article.
Companion books:
Other books by Berlie Doherty:
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