DK Read and Listen: A Christmas Carol (with Cassette) [Paperback]

Charles Dickens (Author), Andrew Wheatcroft (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2001 | Age Level: 9 and up | Series: Read & Listen Books

A Christmas Carol is an essential part of Christmas for families everywhere. Since the book's publication in 1843, the story of miserly Scrooge's change of heart after the visit of three spirits has been encountered by children in innumerable books, plays, movies, and cartoons based on Dicken's ghost story. This edition introduces children to the powerful words of the original text in an abridgment based on the one Dickens made for his pubic readings. Andrew Wheatcroft's illustrations bring the classic scenes to life. Photography, paintings, and hundreds of facts explore Dicken's London, the wealth and the poverty, and Christmas customs and ideals then and now. Dickens's marvelous words and their fascinating context are brought together to inspire a new generation with Dickens's message -- that we can and we should change ourselves and our world for the better.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Charles Dickens (1812-1870) was the most popular English writer of his time. Having experienced terrible poverty as a child, he became an ardent campaigner for the poor and the unfortunate. When he wrote A Christmas Carol he took this concern and wove it together with ghosts and magic, creating a book that is both a cry for social justice and a modern fairy tale. Andrew Wheatcroft studied illustration in England. He has illustrated many children's books and also paints landscapes. He is a member of the British Watercolour Society and the Society of British Painters.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Paperback: 64 pages
• Publisher: DK CHILDREN; Pap/Cas edition (August 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 078946246X
• ISBN-13: 978-0789462466
• Product Dimensions: 12.6 x 8.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,446,636 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

One of the grand masters of Victorian literature, Charles Dickens was born on February 7, 1812, in Landport, Portsea, England. He died in Kent on June 9, 1870. The second of eight children of a family continually plagued by debt, the young Dickens came to know not only hunger and privation,but also the horror of the infamous debtors' prison and the evils of child labor. A turn of fortune in the shape of a legacy brought release from the nightmare of prison and "slave" factories and afforded Dickens the opportunity of two years' formal schooling at Wellington House Academy. He worked as an attorney's clerk and newspaper reporter until his Sketches by Boz (1836) and The Pickwick Papers (1837) brought him the amazing and instant success that was to be his for the remainder of his life. In later years, the pressure of serial writing, editorial duties, lectures, and social commitments led to his separation from Catherine Hogarth after twenty-three years of marriage. It also hastened his death at the age of fifty-eight, when he was characteristically engaged in a multitude of work.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Living in the Past, Present and Future, December 13, 2001

By 

Rebecca Johnson "The Rebecca Review" (Washington State) - See all my reviews
(COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: DK Read and Listen: A Christmas Carol (with Cassette) (Paperback)

As Norman Cousins once said: Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies within us while we live. In this story, we learn about a man who has waisted most of his life starving his soul.

Andrew Sachs reads "A Christmas Carol," so children can follow along or read the details as the story progresses. The tape recreates the atmosphere of the time in which the story is set and the pictures acquaint the listener with the characters.

Scrooge values "only" money and has no time or love for any of the people in his life. It seems no one cares about him either. The spirit of Christmas is a contrast to his selfishness and lack of love, joy and care for others. His business partner Marley has passed onto the next life and Scrooge was his only friend.

"The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shriveled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue." pg. 11

Not willing to make merry at Christmas, he heads to a melancholy dinner in a melancholy tavern where he reads the newspaper and then heads home to bed. When he arrives home, to his horror he sees Marley's face in place of the door knocker. In the house he sees Jacob Marley in chains and he explains how he is wearing the chains he forged in his life, link by link. He tells Scrooge he at least has time to escape this fate and that he will be haunted by three spirits.

That night the Ghosts of Christmas Past, of Christmas Present and of Christmas Yet to Come appear to him. Through his journey he learns why people:

1. Need to take time off from work and have some recreation.

2. Take time to love and have a family.

3. Decorate and dine on Christmas fare.

4. Feel the need to help those who are less fortunate.

5. Decided to change so they can live a more fulfilling life.

The features in this book include lovely color pictures throughout and all the intricate details that make a story so much more alive. A special section all about the author tells of his life and why no one who ever met him ever forgot him. Scrooge fortunately lives to see a brighter day and learns to view the world in a positive way.

A story to lift your spirits, and maybe even provide you

with some ideas for your New Year's resolutions.

~The Rebecca Review