Oliver Twist (Barron's Graphic Classics) [Hardcover]

John Malam (Adapter), Charles Dickens (Author)

Book Description

Series: Barron's Graphic Classics

Oliver, an orphan in 19th-century London, falls into a den of thieves, but is finally rescued by Mr. Brownlow, a wealthy benefactor. In each of Barron's Graphic Classics, an English literary classic is transformed into a dramatic graphic novel with superb, atmospheric color illustrations and a finely-paced narrative. The tale--chosen from among important novels in the literary canon-- will keep young readers fascinated from first page to last. Graphic Classics make fine introductions for young readers to the riches of English literature. Books are available in both paperback and hardcover editions. In addition to the stories, each title features a brief biography and time line of its author, a list of his important works, a glossary, and an index. As such, these books are suitable for classroom use on junior and senior high school levels.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 4–8—This graphic adaptation of the classic retains the excitement of Oliver's captures, escapes, rescues, and eventual salvation. Malam has kept some of Dickens's original dialogue, suitably explained in footnotes, so that the work does preserve some of its flavor. Each page features up to nine small illustrations in a fairly dim palette with browns and grays dominating. The panels feature captions underneath that tell the story along with dialogue and thought balloons, but speaking characters do not always have open mouths. The art is curiously static for a story filled with fleeing and fighting. The book opens with a page of characters that helps readers keep track of them. The work concludes with brief information on Dickens, some early criticism of the original story, notes on stage and screen productions, and a few pages on London's poor during Oliver's day that help to put the story into context. Will Eisner's Fagin the Jew (Doubleday, 2003) retells Oliver's story within Fagin's own and is for somewhat older audiences. Though not as appealing as one might hope for a graphic adaptation, Oliver is a suitable alternative for kids who want some visuals with their texts.—Eric Norton, McMillan Memorial Library, Wisconsin Rapids, WI
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From the Inside Flap

(back cover)
Orphaned as soon as he is born, Oliver Twist seems destined for a life of misery. Miraculously, he survives years of neglect, hunger, and violence. On his eighth birthday he is taken to the workhouse, and now his troubles are really about to begin.

Find out what happens to Oliver in this vivid graphic novel retelling of Charles Dickens' literary classic.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Barron's Educational Series (October 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764159755
• ISBN-13: 978-0764159756
• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 6.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,935,994 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

John Malam attended the University of Birmingham before working in publishing. He is now a writer and editor with over 20 years experience in producing books for children. He lives in Cheshire with his family.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great graphic adaptation of a classic, October 2, 2007

By 

Mary Anastasia Blaise "Teacher/ Advocate" (St Claire Shores, Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Oliver Twist (Barron's Graphic Classics) (Paperback)

My 8 year old is getting into graphic classics this year. He really likes these; he can read one in an afternoon. What's funny though, he can give you at least a Cliff Notes type review (telling me they have hit all the high notes in this very brief graphic version), and it's really sparked his interest in classic literature. Oliver Twist was particularly well done in this series.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Great concept, very poor execution., February 6, 2009

By 

Jenni Kmiotek "chaospearl" (Long Island) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Oliver Twist (Barron's Graphic Classics) (Paperback)

I collect graphic novels based on classic literature, so I had high hopes for this series of Graphic Classics by Barron's. In addition to Oliver Twist, they've also published Dracula, Frankenstein, Kidnapped, Moby-Dick, Treasure Island, and Journey to the Center of the Earth (maybe others I'm unaware of too). It's a really cool concept, making comic books out of literature that can otherwise be a bit dry and difficult to get through, especially for teenagers. I'm giving it 2 stars for the idea alone. Unfortunately, Barron's does it very poorly.

I was introduced to this series beginning with the Barron's Graphic Classics version of Dracula by Bram Stoker, and while I don't own the other books, I've seen and read them at my local Barnes & Noble. I was highly disappointed when I received my copy of Dracula, and I wanted to be certain that the other books in the series were of similarly poor quality before dismissing the whole series out of hand, so I checked them out in person at my local bookshop. Unfortunately every book I looked at was done in the same style, which I'll describe below. I promptly removed all the others in this series from my wishlist.

The problem is that these books are not graphic novels as the term is generally understood, that is, pages consisting of large colorful panels of artwork that tell a story by portraying consecutive images of action, with characters speaking, acting, and moving throughout various background scenes -- in other words, a comic book. The Barron's graphic novels are more like a children's adaptation of novels. They consist of long paragraphs of text with illustrations alongside. You open the book and instead of seeing pages of artwork with dialogue balloons and perhaps a bit of boxed text, instead it's mostly typed text accompanied by color illustrations. The illustrations are done in comic book style, but they're pretty small and only account for maybe 1\4th of the page space. In a comic book I expect the artwork to cover the entire page with a minimum of explanatory text.

I realize that a graphic novel is not actually a comic book, but for all intents and purposes they're the same thing. A graphic novel should be mostly artwork; that is all that separates it from a regular novel that happens to be illustrated. I own graphic novel versions of The Hobbit and several other classics done by Marvel Illustrated (yes, the same Marvel famous for Superman et al) and those books are absolutely gorgeous -- full-color images in panels that cover the entire page, on heavy paper with a gloss finish, and the dialogue is taken directly from the text of the original novel rather than adapted.

That's another issue with this Barron series; not only is the "graphic" portion severely lacking, but the large amounts of text underneath each illustration isn't even text from the novel. It's more like an explanatory recap of what's going on, and it's necessary because the illustrations are so small that you can't really understand the story by looking at the scenes portrayed in the artwork. The defining characteristic of a comic book \ graphic novel is that the story is told via images rather than text, and this series by Barron's completely fails to do that. The art isn't done in comic-style panels featuring events happening as they unfold; there's little to no movement or action going on in any of the illustrations.

For example, the first page of Barron's Graphic Classics "Dracula" includes an illustration that's two inches square (I measured) and shows Johnathan Harker and another man. The man is saying, "Must you go?" and holding out a small chain with what I assume is a crucifix dangling on it, but the picture's so small to begin with that it's difficult to tell what the tiny object is supposed to be. There is nothing in the illustration to give a clue as to where the two men are; no scenery or background of any kind, it's just a blank illustration enclosed in a box with what might be the vague outline of a house behind the two men. It's a black and white outline, only there so that the illustration box wouldn't be completely white, I assume. The text underneath this says, "Johnathan reaches a gloomy old inn, where he asks for news of Dracula. The innkeepers shudder and insist on giving him a crucifix."

I don't know about you, but in a graphic novel I'd sorta like to actually SEE the gloomy old inn, not just an incomplete drawing of two men speaking with typed text underneath to assure me that this conversation is in fact taking place in a gloomy old inn in Transylvania. The entire book continues this way, and it's the same for every book in the Barron's Graphic Classics series; the illustrations are small and they don't tell the story at all, the way a graphic novel should. Instead they're merely that, illustrations -- small accompanying images that contribute a brief glimpse of things that are being explained and described in the text. The text itself is a modern short recap of the novel in 30 to 40 pages, without a single line of it taken from the original book.

Very, very disappointing effort from Barron's. Save yourself the disappointment and buy the Marvel Illustrated graphic novels instead. You'll be extremely impressed.