A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Publisher: Arrow books

Format: The Christmas Books Volume I, special edition, with an introduction by Peter Ackroyd

First Published: 1843

Number of Pages: 96

Book: Bought

Genre: Classic, Christmas, Ghost
Recommended Age: 9+
Contains: No: Violence, Sexual or Drug References Or Swearing
Could have some language that's hard to understand for some children

A Christmas classic for more than 150 years, A Christmas Carol tells the timeless story of the cantankerous Ebenezer Scrooge, his underpaid clerk Bob Cratchit, and Bob’s frail son Tiny Tim, one of Dickens’s most enduring and popular characters.

When Scrooge, a miserly money-changer, is visited by the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future one cold and snowy Christmas evening, all three of their lives change forever...

Review:

With that unique writing style that made Dickens one of the greatest British writers to this day, this is a brilliantly festive story, all about the spirit of Christmas and how to become a better person. Touching and funny in places, it’s the heart-warming tale of how the selfish Ebenezer Scrooge is changed through Christmas, with a few scares and laughs along the way.

Let’s face it, everybody knows the story: Scrooge is greedy, cruel and hates Christmas with a passion. One cold December night, he is visited by the ghost of his former partner, Jacob Marley, who has been cursed into roaming the world forevermore because of the unkind, ungenerous deeds he did when he was alive. Marley tells Scrooge that he will be haunted by three ghosts that night, to give him a chance of not ending up like him. And each ghost in turn show him Christmases past, present and yet to be.

Although I already knew the tale so well from all the various adaptations of it into films, reading the actual book is somehow... different. It makes it more powerful, more realistic. Almost as if, I think, you can actually feel the emotions Dickens’s put into it. And back in the 19th century, just after Dickens passed away, a young girl asked, when told of his death, “Mr Dickens dead? Then will Father Christmas too?” Shows just how much he was associated with Christmas when his books first came out, and I think this book is still absolutely incredible, and it really feels like he still is an absolute Christmas legend. This is by far my favourite book by Dickens, with its characters that feel so realistic that they almost just off of the page and a plot that has you laughing one minute, scared the next. It shows the consequences of selfishness and of generally being a bad person; you get an excellent read and a useful life skill in one go! Uplifting and full to the seams of Christmas magic, anyone who doesn’t enjoy this story is... well... a Scrooge!

Christmas Star Rating:

5 Out of 5: for good old Christmas cheer!

Read This Book If You Liked:

Most if you like Dickens’ other books, mainly Oliver Twist

If you want a good Christmas book!