High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Water-Babies, A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby is a children`s novel by the Reverend Charles Kingsley. Written in 1862–1863 as a serial for Macmillan`s Magazine, it was first published in its entirety in 1863. The book was extremely popular in England during its day, and was a mainstay of British children`s literature through the 1920s.