A World Full of Dickens’ Stories presents
eight best-loved classic tales adapted by Angela McAllister and
retold for children. This is an eye-catching and beautifully designed book
that will be treasured and enjoyed time and time again.
An elegant cover decorated with images of the stories’
characters and settings, heralds the contents. Stunning, fully illustrated end pages
compete with the cover for first prize.
Reading Dickens in this simplified yet artistic form,
younger readers will learn about the real struggles of children within these imaginative
tales set in Victorian England.
It is a historically interesting era which
reveals the exploitation of orphans and unwanted children, which seemed to be
the accepted norm.
The Contents page delivers a single image attached
to each story title. They are Oliver Twist, The Old Curiosity Shop, David Copperfield,
Great Expectations, A Tale of two Cities, A Christmas Carol, Nicholas Nickleby and
Hard Times.
Each of these stories is introduced by a page full
of portraits depicting the characters, their name and role. The faces reflect
the kind of person they are – harsh, sly, unkind, gentle etc. so the reader
immediately identifies them as they begin the journey though the story. The
names that Dickens chose for his characters describes them so well. Bold text throughout
adds elegance to the layout of every page of high quality paper.
The stories are regularly interspersed with further
delightful and expressive illustrations drawn in bold lines in full colour by the
talented Jannicke Hanson. What an amazing job she has done!
The stories call attention to the overpopulation,
poverty, hunger and lack of all basic human needs. Death was as common as the
filth and waste that flooded the streets and gutters. This is an educational tour
through history that will surely be a foretaste of all the literature that
awaits to be discovered.
I loved this book which is so beautiful in every
way, and am thrilled to see the classics being published in a form accessible
and comprehensive to younger generations.
Title:
A World Full of Dickens’ Stories
Author: Angela McAllister
Illustrator:
Jannicke Hanson
Publisher:
Allen & Unwin, $34.99
Publication
Date: 28 April 2020
Format:
Hardcover
ISBN:
978011247710
For
ages: 10+
Type:
Classics
