skip navigation links

Readers > Talk it Up! > Discussion guides > Search of the Moon King's Daughter

Search of the Moon King's Daughter by Linda Holeman

Summary

After her father dies and her mother is injured in a mill accident, Emmaline's brother is sold into service as a chimney sweep in 19th century England and she must go to London to try and bring him home. Booktalk: "Her mother had sold Tommy to a master sweep -- not, as she tried to tell Emmaline, for the boy's sake. It had been a way to have money for the drug -- that took her away from everything -- the pain in her hand, the noise of the mill, the smell of the street. The poverty of her own spirit. And because of this need, Tommy would be a climbing boy, condemned to spend the next five years of his life forced into the narrow flues in the high houses of London, sweeping and dusting the soot from the chimneys. Five years. If he lived that long." (p. 114) Emmaline knows that she is in a race against time to save her little brother, and so she gathers what little she has together and heads off on the four day journey in the back of a wagon to London. She hangs on tightly to a scrap of paper that simply states “Master Sweep Hillis of Steeplemount Way” – her only connection to Tommy now. She's convinced that she will locate him within a day or two of arriving in London, but days turn into weeks, then months and Emmaline begins to wonder if she can find him before it's too late – before Tommy falls off a roof, is stuck permanently in a chimney, or suffers any number of other horrid fates that can happen to the small boys who become chimney sweeps in Queen Victoria's London.

305 pages, 7th grade and up

Discussion questions

  1. When Emmaline's mother is hurt in the mill accident, Emmaline must take control and try to fix her mother's hand. Could you have done that? Have you ever been in a situation where you were the only one available to help?
  2. An author uses foreshadowing to hint at things to come later in the book. Can you find instances of foreshadowing in this book?
  3. Emmaline's father prefers living in the country, but her Aunt Phoebe thinks city life is much better. Why do they believe that? If you had a choice, where would you rather live?
  4. Aunt Phoebe believes that Emmaline is staying with her mother and brother in the awful millworker's cottage in Tibbing out of “pigheadedness”, not loyalty to her family. Do you think this is true? Why or why not?
  5. Paddy/Thomas says “Surely some of us are capable of more than one thing, and can make a change in what we're handed.” What do you think Emmaline wishes to be capable of? Name one thing that you are capable of. Is there something else you wish you could do? How can you achieve it?
  6. Master Sweep Hillis thinks Tommy will be a good chimney sweep because he is so small and will easily be able to go up the chimneys. Can you think of jobs that would be easier for smaller people? Can you think of a job where it would be an advantage to be larger or taller?
  7. Master Thorn left Emmaline enough money to buy a shop and start a sewing business. If someone left some money to you, what would you do with it?

    8. If you like this book, try

    • Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
    • John Diamond by Leon Garfield
    • Coram Boy by Jamila Gavin
    • Ruby in the Smoke by Philip Pullman

    Created in part with funds granted by the Oregon State Library under the Library Services and Technology Act, administered by the Oregon State Library. Send feedback to Katie O'Dell, Reading Promotions Coordinator