I love Barrington Stoke books and feel they are essential additions to every classroom. Fagin’s Girl did not disappoint. Filled with all the dark danger of Victorian London life it’s great to journey with Joe and Ettie and learn of a sibling bond so strong it can never be broken.

I have mixed feelings about this book, but I will say that I think it's an important and interesting read. On one hand, as an adult reading it, I enjoyed the way we were shown the trials of the time period through the eyes of the children who were living it. But as a children's book, it certainly didn't gloss over any of the death and heartache that these children were living through. There was no happy ending here, and I suppose that's fair, as there were many stories of the time that ended the way this one did, with families torn apart and broken. I'm just not sure that the age range it was geared toward needs it presented quite this way. Or maybe it's important that it's honest and forthright. I'm at odds with myself. I enjoyed the characters and loved their connection and spunk! I would just say that you should know the child you're introducing this book to, and if they can handle reading about children who lose their mothers, are hungry, have to separate from family and who leave a positive legacy but themselves see very little in the way of happiness until they are much older.

Absolutely brilliant book. Loved the concept of the book and the idea of a girl being in Fagins Gang. Definitely will be buying for the class

Thank you to NetGalley and Barrington Stoke for providing the ARC of "Fagin's Girl!"

I thought this book had so much potential. Everything about it from the characters and to their relationship with each other had me hooked. It was interesting to see the author weave the history of what it was like for children during that time. The book was just too short! I felt like we could have delved more into Ettie's feelings of her mom, brother, her situation, etc. I thought the artwork was really cute and matched the vibes of the book well.

The ending was just so heartwarming too, seeing Joe's family flourish and Ettie's letters to him.

What nice, short story! I love the setting of old London and the heart of the story. The pictures were great. When I read it was middle grade, I was expecting it to be longer, but this length would be great for readers under 10.

Set in a Victorian town and time period, Ettie and Joe live in a single room with their mother. When Joe disappears, Ettie and Mum need to move to smaller accommodations but when Mum dies, Ettie runs away and must learn to survive on the streets and avoid the workhouse.

Bumping into her brother, he sets her up with a job with his boss, Fagin, of Dickens fame. However, she is not keen to join this gang and she must also hide the fact that she is a girl. When a trick goes wrong, she and brother Joe are separated. Joe is sent to Australia.

The story flicks to Australia in 1988 with a school presentation about Joe and sister Ettie. Their story formed part of one girl's family history. She shared letters between Ettie and Joe that showed what happened to them over time.

Seamless and smart, this story gives new perspective on Victorian children and the futures that might have been.

In London, 1836, Ettie wakes up late. Her mother is working already and had left her to sleep in on her birthday. She's 10 today. Her mother makes flowers from material using a special dust to make them shimmer. She's already busy. Her mother says they are lucky as she always does. Her brother, Joe, comes in with the water bucket. He's hiding something Etti knows it. He doesn't think they're lucky. He gives her a biscuit and says he's not working at the stables any more - his boss beat him. He argues with his mother over his job and leaves. Etti and her mother have to leave the room for a smaller one but her mother is ill, and dies leaving Etti alone.
She heads for the city with what she can take, but it isn't easy. But then Joe appears....but he's 'working' for a man called Fagin. Etti goes to the place Joe lives but has to dress like a boy, she is told to do repairs to whatever is brought in.
But then their new life goes awry....

This is a very good story with the added benefit of being a Barrington Stoke book, so it is short and accessible to all children. I like the twist at the ending very much.

This was such a lovely story. The Victorian setting can often appear bleak and scary in stories, but this is a much more gentle introduction to life in Victorian times, and the hardships faced by the poor at that time. There are references to workhouses, jobs undertaken by children, diseases, death, convict ships to Australia. All are introduced very gently, making it more accessible to younger readers. Ettie is a likeable character, and I found myself rooting for her from the very start of the story. I loved the crossover with Oliver Twist too - this story really brought the world of Fagin to life. I'd recommend this book to anyone aged 8 or above, and perfect for any child (or adult) learning about Victorian Britain.

Review given by my 9 year old.

"I really enjoyed this book and wish it was a bit longer. It is amazing to see how things have changed since 1836 and I was so happy when Ettie found her brother again. It is not nice to read about what conditions people lived in back then and what they had to do to survive but I really really enjoyed this book. I have spoken to my teacher about this book and have asked her to buy the book into our school library for others to read and enjoy"

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Inspired by Oliver Twist, this is an Industrial Revolution era story of Ettie who becomes an orphan, and finds her brother who had fallen in with a London pickpocketing gang led by Fagin. Ettie pretends to be a boy and joins the gang -- but she and her brother Joe are living life on the edge. The last quarter of the book is set in modern-day Australia from the perspective of a descendant of Joe, who was sent to the penal colony of Australia at the age of 12. Lauren has letters from her ancestor Ettie, and her class is fascinated about Ettie & Joe's story.

As with all Barrington Stoke books, this is accessible and interesting with evocative illustrations. I especially like the facts behind the story at the end, including some details about how Ettie's mother was slowly poisoned by the arsenic powder that made the emerald-green colour of Victorian clothing.

As a History and English teacher, I will recommend this book during my teaching of the Industrial Revolution and the colonisation of Australia.

This is a story about family. How this family struggled together in times of poverty and destitution.

A story told from the perspective of a child with amazing illustrations is between the pages, it is a story of survival and hope.

The story depicts the prevalent communicable diseases and the hazardous conditions people had to work in during those times amongst these people and the struggle to survive amidst poverty and discrimination.

The story also focuses more on family and sibling bonds. However, there are also parts which depict gender role discrimination.

A very heartfelt read which I feel would make us feel more grateful today.

Thank you, Barrington Stoke, for the advance reading copy.

A lovely accessible story based very loosely on Dickens' Oliver Twist but from a totally new and unique angle. A great addition to a victorian topic as it introduces a different perspective. Quite short and easy to r for the agree group it appears to be aimed at.

Fagin's Girl is a great book for younger audiences who want to know more about 19th century England without reading a lengthy or detailed novel. I think this would be ideal for readers between 2nd and 4th grade who want a comfortable read that will teach them some history -- plus it has beautiful illustrations!

The information provided by Karen McCombie is fact based, and also moves at a fast pace helping keep children readers engaged. The characters are likable and I appreciated the emphasis on right and wrong, as well as survival. It definitely would provide good discussion for children and parents alike.

Great book for young kids! Fagin's Girl, by Karen McCombie, is a historically accurate story set in Victorian times. While it was just enough to introduce the history to children and prompt conversations in a classroom, I believe this has the makings of a full-length historical fiction novel. (Do authors ever do that?) The characters were so real and I quickly connected with them. I want more! Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher, for providing me with an ARC ebook in exchange for my honest review.

Short but very interesting and engaging story about Victorian orphan Ettie, her brother who was transported to Australia and their descendants. This story was itself a joy but even better was the questions and discussions that stemmed from the reading of it. This would be a great book to have on any school bookshelf.

I received an ARC, of Fagin's Girl, by Karen McCombie. This is a great book for kids. I really liked the illustrations in this book. The family did not have a lot but they had a lot of love.

Fagin’s Girl by Karen McCombie
Published by Barrington Stoke

Set in Victorian England, London in 1836, this young children’s historical novel tells the story of orphans Ettie & Joe. Their brother and sister relationship struggle’s alongside the challenges of poverty, grief, illness and homelessness. This is a simply written text for children 8+ but with accessible descriptions of the Victorian period. Fagin’s Girl flies the flag for the girls surviving on the streets of the big city amongst grime, crime and discrimination. A great choice of text to use to prove how classroom taught grammatical features enhance and lift the characters descriptions e.g “The morning light streamed in the window behind her. It made her red hair glow like the embers of our tiny fire on a cold evening.”
Definitely a text with multiple purposes: to use and study with pupils, as a class read and to support any Victorian historical project.
@joannebardgett
@BarringtonStoke

This is the story of a pair of orphans, but unlike Oliver Twist, who also used to work for Fagin, this is not the thing that musicals are made of.

This short, quick novel gives the basics of what lead the two children to turn to a life of crime, to survive, and then, we find how it all ends up for them.

The author based this on research of how children lived in Victorian times, as also what happened when they were transported to Australia, for offenses as simple as pick-pocketing.

Nicely done story, but a little too short for me, but that is the way high-low readers work. Short novels, written to get in and out of quickly.

<em>Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review. </em>

I really enjoyed this modern take on Oliver Twist it was fun, engaging and gave a look into the horrific life in Dickensian London without being overly horrific. A great boook for children.

Inventive look at Dickensian life, bringing the world of "Oliver Twist" to the attention of Barrington Stoke's usual audience of dyslexics and owners of other reading disabilities and difficulties. Of course, as always, you don't have to have an issue with reading to enjoy their stories, but they are the best at providing for those that do have them. Here they'll find Ettie's life go downhill and downhill fast, until she finds her brother is being employed by a certain Mr Fagin, which must be wonderful, seeing how he sounds like a second-hand merchant and trader of things found on the street. The story is, however, one of the slightly open-ended efforts I've seen this house offer more and more of, building through its wonderful world creation, and growing to a peak then stopping. A much more modern-set coda can't really pretend to close all the gaps and make everything look rosy, either, especially with the factual background to the story we get to finish. This then is no bundle of joys, but is still riveting for the right young reader (the publishers say eight and up, for both audience age and for reading ability), and may easily sway someone to try an adaptation of Dickens' original, on whose toes it never treads, much preferring to be its own thing – and being it rather well. Just don't come for the laughs.