Eyewitness Classics: Christmas Carol (DK Classics)

Rating:
Summary: Full of illustrations showing Dickens' London
Review: This book is an abridged version of Charles Dickens' original. It is not only shorter, but parts of the language are modernized and therefore easier to understand. It contains all the major important events in the story and is full of illustrations that show a child what London looked like at the time the book was written. The captions of the photographs, drawings, and paintings also explain passages of the book, for example the story mentions an almshouse; the illustrations show what it looks like and explains who it was for and why. One of the characters works at a milliner; a drawing shows what a milliner's shop looked like, another shows a silk bonnet made in one of those stores. We see paintings of the streets of London, the clothing of poor and rich people, the food they ate (e.g. brawn), etc.

The illustrations and sidebars give children a much better understanding of the story and the time in which Dickens lived. I highly recommend this book for young readers.