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60 | www.teachwire.net WHAT DO YOUWISH? Brewster makes a wish on thousands of ‘falling stars’. Everyone’s wishes are unique, just like their fingerprints. If you could make a wish on a falling star, what would you wish for? Author Eve McDonnell suggests making a wish print. Write a series of sentences beginning with “I wish…”. The sky’s the limit! Start writing in the middle of the page and spiral your sentences into the shape of a fingerprint. Everyone’s wish print will be personal and full of hope. SWEEP’S LUCK Chim chiminey, chim chiminey, chim chim cher-ee… If you’re familiar with the film Mary Poppins , you’ll know chimney sweeps are considered good luck, especially if they blow you a kiss. Throughout the story, Brewster blows kisses to his friend Alice in kindness and to bring her good fortune. But why are sweeps considered so lucky? Brewster’s early life was full of anything but luck, although did this start to change when Lady Rosse took him in Find out more about this sweep superstition. There are ancient beliefs that fire and the hearth are connected to good fortune. Legend tells us that in the year 1066 (approximately), King William of Britain’s life was saved when a chimney sweep pulled him out of the path of a runaway carriage. The king invited the sweep to his daughter’s wedding, beginning the superstition that sweeps are good luck at weddings. A second legend tells us King George III was riding in a carriage when his horses bolted. A passing chimney sweep calmed the horses and Take it further and a passion for photography. Her family’s technological interests and ground-breaking inventions call to Brewster and, as if by magic, he finds himself starting a new life in her care. But this new life isn’t going to be easy. Lady Rosse expects great things from him in return for her help in making his wish come true. Brewster would do just about anything to protect his climbing family and change the lives of young sweeps forever... Activities The last climbing boy ‘He wished over and over, fast as words could leave his lips, that he would be the last boy. The last climbing boy.’ Not only did Brewster wish he would no longer have to climb narrow, soot-filled chimneys, he wished it for all climbing boys everywhere. The real George Brewster was born in London in 1863. Unable to provide for him, his family sold him to Master Sweep Wyer for just a few shillings. George’s death certificate shows he died after getting stuck in a chimney flue. Wyer was charged with manslaughter and sentenced to six months’ hard labour. News of George’s death caught the attention of the 7 th Earl of Shaftsbury. Saddened by the tragedy, the Earl was prompted to push a bill through parliament to stop the use of climbing boys – the Chimney Sweepers Act of 1875. Find out more about the lives of chimney sweeps in the 1800s. How were they treated? How did they clean Book topic chimneys? What laws did the Chimney Sweepers Acts of 1834, 1840 and 1864 put in place? Did Master Sweeps obey these laws? Imagine you live in 1875. Write a newspaper report about the tragedy of George Brewster’s death or about the Chimney Sweepers Act of 1875. Include key facts and quotes from people at the scene. Photographing the past Birr Castle in Ireland is the home of Lady Rosse and her family. A passion for technology and invention runs through every room of this great building. An amateur astronomer and pioneering photographer herself, Lady Rosse has a wish – she wants to photograph the past. Over the years, she has brought the world’s greatest minds to her home, built the world’s largest telescope and filled her library with scientific books – the very books Brewster sneaks in to read in secret to expand his own mind. Create a fact file about telescopes. How does the speed of light allow us to see into the past? Find out about Proxima Centauri (the nearest star to Earth except for the Sun) and how long it takes its light to reach our eyes. The Leviathan Telescope was a real telescope built at Birr Castle in the 1840s. What did the Third Earl of Rosse discover using this telescope? Why was it such an important invention of its time? Written in the stars In 1833, the greatest meteor shower in history, the Leonids, filled the sky with hundreds of thousands of dust particles shed from the tail of the Tempel-Tuttle comet, burning up as they entered Earth’s atmosphere. Every 33 years, the orbit of this magnificent comet causes it to flash across the sky to the delight, and sometimes horror, of those who witness it. Unaware of what they were seeing in 1833, people panicked. Superstition and lack of knowledge caused them to believe they were being cursed, blaming crop failures, illness and misfortune on the comet. Using mathematics and science, Brewster is able to predict the 1866 return of the comet. He longs to see it, with thousands of meteors creating a sky more white than black. His understanding of science means he isn’t afraid and can appreciate the wonder of it all. Find out about the Leonid meteor shower and Tempel-Tuttle comet. Why is it called Leonid? What was Fingerprint illustration © Holly Ovenden