A Christmas Carol (Scholastic Classics)

Rating:
Summary: greedy to giving
Review: This book is one of the most meaningful of all time and one I think should be read more often than just watched on television during the Christmas season. It is a tale of a small, cruel, and heartless man changing into a kind and generous soul. He is helped by a long dead friend, Jacob Marley, who wishes to save Scrooge of a eternal fate of walking the Earth forever with the weight of his sins upon him. Jacob changes Scrooge by having him haunted by three ghosts who show him all the people he has hurt and all the people he will hurt if he does not change.
After the spirits visit Scrooge he rewards the Cratchit family with an anonymously sent Goose and immediately finds a charity, to which he generously donates. He also makes amends with his nephew Fred that has been trying to change Scrooge for years. Finally he helps Bob Cratchit by raising his salary so that Tiny Tim may survive.
I think this book is great for the family and though it is a little difficult I think it is suited for anyone over 12 years old.


Rating:
Summary: Living in the Past, Present and Future
Review: As Norman Cousins once said: Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies within us while we live. In this story, we learn about a man who has waisted most of his life starving his soul.

Andrew Sachs reads "A Christmas Carol," so children can follow along or read the details as the story progresses. The tape recreates the atmosphere of the time in which the story is set and the pictures acquaint the listener with the characters.

Scrooge values "only" money and has no time or love for any of the people in his life. It seems no one cares about him either. The spirit of Christmas is a contrast to his selfishness and lack of love, joy and care for others. His business partner Marley has passed onto the next life and Scrooge was his only friend.

"The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shriveled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue." pg. 11

Not willing to make merry at Christmas, he heads to a melancholy dinner in a melancholy tavern where he reads the newspaper and then heads home to bed. When he arrives home, to his horror he sees Marley's face in place of the door knocker. In the house he sees Jacob Marley in chains and he explains how he is wearing the chains he forged in his life, link by link. He tells Scrooge he at least has time to escape this fate and that he will be haunted by three spirits.

That night the Ghosts of Christmas Past, of Christmas Present and of Christmas Yet to Come appear to him. Through his journey he learns why people:

1. Need to take time off from work and have some recreation.
2. Take time to love and have a family.
3. Decorate and dine on Christmas fare.
4. Feel the need to help those who are less fortunate.
5. Decided to change so they can live a more fulfilling life.

The features in this book include lovely color pictures throughout and all the intricate details that make a story so much more alive. A special section all about the author tells of his life and why no one who ever met him ever forgot him. Scrooge fortunately lives to see a brighter day and learns to view the world in a positive way.

A story to lift your spirits, and maybe even provide you
with some ideas for your New Year's resolutions.

Yesterday was history
Tomorrow is a mystery.
Today is a gift.
That's why it's called the Present.

Rating:
Summary: Tristan's Review
Review: I had to read this for Language Arts last year and I absolutely hated it. No matter how many times I reread the Staves, I still couldn't understand it. It is just a bunch of details, not a tied-together broad image. If you like to get confused and are in High School or older, be my guest and read this monstrosity.

Rating:
Summary: maybe good but definitely NOT the unabridged recording
Review: once again, (OK it does not happen that often, otherwise we would stop trusting Amazon and shopping with them, would'nt we?) the description is not accurate : this version ISBN 1569945233, monterey media etc.... is an ADAPTATION of Dicken's novel by the St Charles PLayers, who record it with all due talent and spirit BUT as a play, in an "exciting Radio Theater style" quote, unquote.....

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful edition!
Review: The combination of the unabridged (un-sanitised) version of Dickens' work, thorough background material, and quite delightful illustrations makes this volume a perfect Christmas gift or addition to one's own collection.

Rating:
Summary: As It Was Written
Review: The following review is for the version illustrated by William Geldart, not this version illustrated by Lisbeth Zwerger. For some reason, Amazon mixed the two up.

This is it! These are the letters, words, sentences, paragraphs that made Christmas the celebration that it is today - the family parties, the feasts, the excitement, giving to the poor. Virtually every way we celebrate this magnificent Holiday (except the mall part!) comes from this book written by Charles Dickens.
First off, this is the unabridged version. Nothing added - nothing taken away. That's as it should be. (Unfortunately, as great as they may be, the movie versions truly do not do the book justice - although I must say the George C. Scott and Alistair Sim versions do come fairly close).
One thing that surprises me about this book is how few people I know that have have actually read it, but they've seen one version or another of the movie countless times! They don't seem to realize that when books are put to film, so much is taken out for length or for other reasons. A Christmas Carol is no different. In fact, if you watch all of the different movie versions available, you STILL would not get the complete book, even though each movie adds one thing or another from the original story that the others may not.
There are countless copies of this story available in various book form, but this particular version is probably one of the best that I have seen. The illustrations attempt in some part to keep in the same spirit as in Dickens' original. But the best, most interesting part of this version (besides the story itself) is all of the little facts, explanations, and trivia put into the margins throughout this book. They give the modern 21st century reader more of an understanding of what 19th century English life was like. A couple of examples: when Dickens writes of the Cratchit family taking their goose to the bakers to be cooked, I wondered why would any one take their food OUT to be cooked and then picked up later. This book explains that few poor people in this time period had ovens large enough to roast a good family sized bird. They were big enough to cook a small bit of meat and that was about it. In order to have one of those rare Holiday meals, they had to take it to the large baker's oven at an appointed time for cooking.
Another fact I did not know was that in the story, Scrooge's sister, Fan, was based on Dickens' actual sister in law, Mary Hogarth.
There are also a multitude of paintings, drawings, and sketches from Dickens' time showing his time. Now you can see, as accurately as one can considering there were no cameras, life of the rich, middle class, and poor as it actually was. There's a picture of Queen Victoria and her family celebrating Christmas. There is also a beautiful painting of a poor labourer's family Christmas celebration. There are sketches from the first edition of 'A Christmas Carol.'
If you plan on owning a copy of this most wonderful of all Christmas novels, this is the version to get.

Rating:
Summary: The Charles Dickens Classic of all time.
Review: This is Charles Dickens' best christmas story. Only David Copperfield tops this story. Mr. Dickens teaches the reader that no matter how much money or position we have, no matter how important we feel, no matter how much cynicism we have, life will come right out in front of us with a big wham!! Tiny Tim is compassion, Mr. Cratchit is hope, Fizziwigg is happiness. And all these things are life at its best. A Christmas Carol is the true feeling and hope and love. Make this short story your hope.

Rating:
Summary: Greatest Christmas Story
Review: This is the greatest Christmas story. I've read it every year before Christmas since I was in about the third grade-and I've never tired of it! I definitely recomend it, it's a sin to die without reading this classic.