- biography of famous author, Charles Dickens
- convo point: includes detailed descriptions of poor peoples’ situations
- convo points: divorce, cigars, a hanging mentioned, being driven by money
- language: “mob of brainless windbags”
- great illustrations
Type: longer picture book
Ages: 4-8
Authors: Diane Stanley, Peter Vennema
Illustrator: Diane Stanley
As a longer picture book, it’s able to cover quite a good summary of Dickens’ life–the worsening conditions of his childhood and on through his adulthood. His fame grew very quickly in his 20s! Be aware that it’s written more matter-of-factly than you might expect, yet it remains interesting.
Side note: It may behoove the parent reading this to their child to discuss what biblical marriage looks like to counter the description of his unfortunate marriage situation.
Overall, I greatly enjoyed this one, especially having read a number of his novels. That is, by no means, a prerequisite, but it certainly added to the understanding of his life as well as a few references to particular books and characters. (There were a few minor spoilers about a character or two.) Most of his books, you may know, describe the horrible conditions and suffering of English people during his lifetime. Some of this is described for the readers, but it’s appropriately written for young listeners. It was a bleak chapter of history, but Dickens brought a lot of good change via his stories. A fascinating life to read about!