Our family loves Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. We love the original, as it appears on the page, and the audiobook read by B. J. Harrison. We love The Muppet Christmas Carol, too.
With this in mind, you may understand my excitement when I opened Little Christmas Carol, envisioned and illustrated by my friend Joe Sutphin. This children’s retelling of Dickens’ beloved tale honors the language of the original, and Sutphin’s illustrations bring the shivers and the splendor to sparkling life.
I appreciate that the publisher did not skimp on the execution of this book—it is not small, which would have made the visual experience cramped. Instead, its generous layout creates hospitable spreads with immersive illustrations and easy-to-read text.
I imagine children lying on living room floors with this book open, chins propped, as they enter Dickens’ redemptive reimagining of the classic Victorian ghost story.
From the way the details of this book all point, I am sure that this open-armed hospitality toward children was part of Sutphin’s vision from the start. As even the book box quotes:
“It is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child himself.”
—Charles Dickens
He continues to write about adventure, backyard wildlife, and realizing there are no ordinary places, and you can find him at JamesDWitmer.com.
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