From Publishers Weekly
As in their previous collaborations ( Good Queen Bess ; Bard of Avon ), Stanley and Vennema bring to life another vital historical figure in their newest, spirited volume. Stanley's typically meticulous gouache art offers accurate portrayals of 19th-century fashions, architecture and interior design. With the exception of a jarring opening sentence ("All his life Charles Dickens would remember a particular day when he was nine years old, and something his father said"), the authors' informal yet authoritative narrative unfolds smoothly. Due to his father's spendthrift ways, Dickens was forced to drop out of school at an early age, work in a blacking factory and lodge in a boardinghouse. Stanley and Vennema point out how these and other experiences provided the settings, plots and characters for the author's oeuvre. Such insights make this biography especially rich. The authors' closing lines (referring to Dickens's novels) easily apply to their own volume: "When at last you put down the book, it will be regretfully, like saying good-bye to a friend after an exciting adventure together. But you will also know that you can go back again anytime you want, and he will be there, waiting." Ages 7-up.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
The authors follow their splendid Bard of Avon (1992, ALA Notable) with an equally handsome book on the beloved novelist. Dickens's troubled, well-documented life has plenty to interest children--the early vicissitudes depicted in David Copperfield, his championship of needy children, the reception of his books and dramatic readings in the US (where he was ``horrified by the hideous institution of slavery''). Nicely shaping their lucid, accessible narrative, the authors begin with Dickens's boyhood dream of living in Gad's Hill (his actual home in his last years) and temper a discreet account of his unfortunate marriage with first-love Maria Beadnell's comical reappearance--plump, middle- aged, and tiresomely persistent. While linking the biographical facts to the fiction, they focus on the life itself; it makes a lively, entertaining story for children who enjoy A Christmas Carol in its various guises. As in Bard, Stanley uses an elegantly muted palette and delicately stylized figures, bringing decorative period patterns to her beautifully structured compositions; full-bleed art draws readers into the appealing scenes, while b&w text-page vignettes recall Victorian engravings. A must. Brief bibliography (standard adult works; three books for young readers; 14 of Dickens's most familiar works). (Biography/Picture book. 8+) --
Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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