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The World of Charles Dickens

ByA.C.S. Bird

The books below manifest their creators’ love for the patron saint of storytelling, but their virtue lies in more than their subject matter. Their own charm, wit, ingenuity, and, above all, heart, does just homage to the timeless Victorian author.

A Boy Called Dickens, by Deborah Hopkinson, ill. John Hendrix (Schwartz & Wade, 2012, 40 pp., ages 8–12)

Hopkinson and Hendrix pair fact with speculation to animate an epoch in the life of adolescent Charles. When the story opens, the unfortunate Dickens is living on his own and working in a boot black factory while the rest of his family languishes in debtors’ prison alongside his father. Author and illustrator join their imaginations to suggest people and situations that could have inspired Dickens’s later work. Orphans, misers, lawyers, clerks, ghosts, and maiden aunts all make their appearance in text and image. And, as with most of Dickens’s classics, the fortunes of the principal protagonist take a turn for the better before the final page. 

This collaboration is an early entry in the oeuvre of both Hopkinson and Hendrix, but each has produced an impressive body of work since. In addition to picture books, Hopkinson has applied her love of history to middle-grade novels, early chapter books, and nonfiction. Hendrix has also created cover art, designed promotional graphics (for Wingfeather, among others) and, most recently, branched out into his own comic-style works. My favorite is The Mythmakers, examining the friendship between C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. Hendrix’s online Sketchbook showcases his aptitude for combining truth and imagery.

Charles Dickens and Friends, by Marcia Williams (Candlewick, 2002, 48 pp, ages 9–12)

This accessible adaptation presents young readers with comic-style encapsulations of five of Dickens’s most-loved works: Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities, David Copperfield, and, of course, A Christmas Carol. Williams’s genius is characterized by compact distillations, lively visuals, and detailed composition. The fact that all direct speech is taken directly from Dickens helps preserve the spirit of the originals. In the scene portraying Oliver’s immortal request—“Please, sir, I want more”—the spunky orphan is dwarfed by the ladle-wielding workhouse master. His audacity throws everything else in the frame—tables, children, ragged laundry, decrepit stove, and scandalized mice—into chaos. 

Williams condenses an impressive amount of content into a few pages. Every frame bulges with detail, and its tendency to spill over into the margins adds to the spirit of whimsy. Her action-packed spreads reward close concentration and countless return visits. By contrast, the simplicity of the accompanying text makes the narrative easy to digest, even for young readers (or listeners).

A.C.S. Bird
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