In my later teens and my twenties, I devoured classics, appreciating the ways they create these expansive worlds, truly letting me get inside to the motivations of characters. My interest hasn't waned, but it's more of a commitment to make the time to read longer works, so they are less of a priority.

A World Full of Dickens Stories takes eight classics and condenses them into around 15 pages with illustrations. I would be the first to shy away from abridgments, but these are akin to summaries. The distinctive illustrations would lead children to flip through the pages, and while these are perhaps suited to later elementary and middle school children, they can serve as a basic introduction to classic works that can whet a reader's appetite for the genuine article. 

I previously read about half of these, and for the others, I was familiar with a general outline of events, so I could enter those stories with an appreciation for the author's summaries. However, I was previously unfamiliar with any of the events in Hard Times, so that was enjoyable to glean information and whet my appetite for picking up that book someday.

So often individuals shy away from reading classics, fearful that they are too dense and they won't pick up on the subtext or they'll quit long before they finish. Having this framework for the stories ahead of time would offer confidence when readers are ready to enjoy the unabridged works.  

(I received a digital ARC copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.)

I read this to two of my boys and they both absolutely loved the stories especially the illustrations.

Ever since, as a teenager, I read "The Great Expectations", I consider Dickens the greatest writer of all time. As for the book, it is still my all time favorite. So, you can imagine how excited I was when I got this book to read and to be able to bring the dark and gloomy world of Dickens' novels to the younger generations.

Although I ultimately have a few objections to the implementation of this idea, I have to admit that I really liked a few things. First of all, there are some remarkable illustrations that ideally outline Dickens’ stories. I really can't imagine them being any better than they are now. Second, but not any less important, is the representation of the characters at the beginning of each story. For anyone yet unfamiliar with Dickens' characters, this is a great tool to come back to while reading a story.

In the end, my general problem was summarizing the content of Dickens' stories. It seems to me that a lot of the magic of the original was lost in the summary, and that is exactly what I was afraid of. On several occasions it seemed to me as if this book aspires only to make summaries of Dickens' stories for those who did not want to bother reading the whole books. In the end, maybe, that’s not entirely negative either. We should definitely get to know Dickens, if not in the original, then at least in an abbreviated version.

Absolutely marvelous!
The illustrations in this were stunning and made Dickens so much more accessible! I mean, I'm not a kid but I've always had a hard time getting into Dickens' writing but this gorgeous illustrative work made me excited to pick up Oliver Twist and other books in the future and give them another chance!
A must for every library!

This is a fantastic introduction to Charles Dickens for children and one I will definitely be sharing with children regularly. The stories are really well adapted, keeping the essence of the Dickens originals but making them child friendly. The complex plots and intriguing characters are still there, but in really clear and well thought-out abridged versions. The language is well chosen, with lots of challenging vocabulary but that children could work out the meaning of and the illustrations add to the overall charm of the book, with really clear images and character summaries that added to my enjoyment of reading the stories. Over the years, I have tried to find lots of Dickens adaptations to share with children but none have been created as well as this collection. It was great to see some of his more challenging books adapted to - The Old Curiosity Shop and A Tale of Two Cities are definitely two books I've not come across before. I will definitely be adding this to our curriculum!

My Thoughts
This is a bit of an unusual review because I am going to review the collection as a whole instead of reviewing the content as I would for other books I review. Here are my pros and cons for A World Full of Dickens Stories:

Pros

1. I appreciated how these stories were adapted for children. I think they are accessible, understandable, and a great introduction to some of the greatest literature on this planet (at least in my opinion).
2. The illustrations (by Jannicke Hansen) were great and helped to set a tone for the stories. I liked that each story began with a “Cast of Characters” page that introduced each character, their illustrated image, and what part they played in the story. I think visual depictions like this are helpful for children.
3. A brief biography of Charles Dickens and a timeline of his life and the publishing dates of his novels are included at the end of the book.
4. The book also includes a glossary to help young readers understand unfamiliar words.

Cons

1. As an enormous fan of Dickens and his works, condensing his stories down to 15 pages or so kind of feels like a sacrilege! You will get the bones but absolutely none of the meat! However, if these adaptions are read by children and they in any way encourage them to read the full novels when they get older, then I say read away!

Summary
Dickens’ novels are some of the greatest pieces of literature one can read! My #1 most favorite book in the world is David Copperfield. Anytime someone asks for a classic novel recommendation I always tell them to read David Copperfield. The David Copperfield adaption in this book definitely gives you the framework and the gist of the original story, and I think the adaptation is done well; however, you can’t really experience David Copperfield unless you read the entire novel. The same goes for all of Dickens’ novels.

That said, I think any introduction to Dickens’ stories is a must – whether you read them in a adapted form like in this book or watch a movie based on his novels. Everyone must have some Dickens in their lives!

Thank you NetGalley and The Quarto Group for a free eARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

A collection of Dickens stories for both parent and children. With colorful illustrations and the heart of Dickens himself, there are lessons of poverty, goodwill, and redemption. Dickens himself suffered horribly as a child and to that degree most of his stories reflect a forgotten child, an oppressed child who comes across a good soul that sees that child as worthy. The main character redeems himself as strong and determined. These stories can widen a child's heart and imagination. Highly recommend.

A Special Thank you to the Quarto Group and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review.

When I was a young girl, I fell in love with a set of classic books adapted for children that I saw on the Sears catalog. I was very excited when I saw Santa Claus had left them as presents the following Christmas. One of the stories was Oliver Twist, another was David Copperfield. (When I was in 6th grade my bookworm brain was very confused when a classmate said David Copperfield was hot. Apparently she had seen him on TV the night before... I was thinking of the Dickens character, she was talking about the magician. I think this is one of the stories that is most telling about my childhood.) However, those flimsy paperbacks were nothing compared to this collection with its stunning illustrations!

I can't wait for my students to discover not just Oliver Twist and David Copperfield, but also Great Expectations; A Tale of Two Cities; and the other novels included in this gorgeous tome!

**Disclaimer: I haven't read all of the stories contained within this book, I have read the first two & flicked through to look at the illustrations.***

The illustrations in this collection are absolutely stunning. Each short story comes with an introduction page where the reader is introduced to the characters within the story.

The stories themselves are short and condensed for a child to be able to access the tales of Charles Dickens. I fully intend to buy myself a copy of this book for my classroom. I think this would be an absolutely amazing addition to any classroom bookshelf.

Personally, I have never read any novels by Charles Dickens so I cannot comment on how true to the original the stories are.

Charles Dickens. The author everyone has heard of, but few have read. Many make it an annual tradition to watch "A Christmas Carol" and can probably quote some of Tiny Tim's lines but not many have the fortitude to slog through the full version of that Christmas tale or any other of Dickens' works.

Offering an abridgement of classic works is nothing new. Many may be familiar with Illustrated Classics still in print today. For many years, the books have made classics accessible to children with their signature style that included one page of [large] print following by a black and white picture on the facing page. They were a staple in our own home library but I was disappointed that some stories were completely altered. And all too soon, as my children's reading skills increased, they soon considered those abridged classics too "babyish."

A World Full of Dickens Stories is the perfect alternative. While the book is profusely illustrated, it retains a decidely grown-up feel with very dense portions of text. I was pleasantly surprised at the length of each retelling--they expertly captured the essence of not only characters, but also setting and plot. The pictures are a wonderful distraction for younger children being read to. And older readers will find the illustrations a wonderful complement to the story, bringing details more vividly to life. The title page of each story offers a selection of the images within the story. Children can be on the lookout in the story for those illustrations.

Admittedly, Dickens often had some darker elements in his writing, but I felt that those were tastefully handled by the author and would not cause younger readers too much worry. The illustrations are somewhat quirky (almost everyone has a red, pointed nose), and sometimes odd (not exactly sure what that Ghost of Christmas Past is supposed to be--all I could think of was a conehead--which I guess does represent days gone by!), but overall, they were a delightful part of the retellings. The child-like quality of the illustrations would make a great study for a budding artist to try to replicate.

I closed the book with deep satisfaction; I had read many of the originals in younger years and this was a wonderful way to relive those stories. This wonderful collection provides an excellent rendering of the essential elements of each story and would provide an excellent way to familiarize oneself with characters before indulging in the movie. If a love for a story is kindled in a child, hopefully they will consider reading the original when they are older.

As I read the last paragraph, I wished that more of Dickens works had been included. I certainly hope the author will consider a second volume of Dickens and then branch out to other authors; I would love to see similar retellings of works by Louisa May Alcott, Jane Austen, and Robert Louis Stevenson.

Disclaimer: I received a free digital copy of A World Full of Dickens Stories from NetGalley for the purpose of review. No other compensation was received and the opinions expressed are my own.

The artwork was great, but as a non-reader of Dickens, I can't say that the short summaries led me to want to read the whole books. I also am skeptical that a kid would read these short stories and find them to be something they'd want to read.

I was unable to download this as it was archived when I was approved, but it looks like a great book to introduce children to Dickens. This will be a book that will be in our library.

This is a wonderful Dickens collection, for children. It is for an older age than our daughter, but she enjoyed having them read to her, at night. We will definitely read them to her in the future, as we know she will continue to love these classics.

I hate to admit that I've never read anything by Dickens before, I already knew the plot to a lot of his novels but haven't read anything. So this book wasn't a reminder, it was my introduction to Dickens, and it works so well.

This is an abridged and illustrated book of eight of Dicken's novels, with a characters chart before each story and multiple full page illustrations and easy to follow description of complicated events and characters relationships. It's definitely hard to put all of his characters and events into such a short book, and it definitely showed in some places where the development was too fast. But it'd work very well for children wanting to get into classics, the art and the writing style is perfect for them, and of course each and every story is miserable somehow!

This collection includes eight of Charles Dickens' most famous stories: Oliver Twist, The Old Curiosity Shop, David Copperfield, Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities, A Christmas Carol, Nicholas Nickleby and Hard Times.

I thank Netgalley and Frances Lincoln Children's Books for the digital ARC.

An excellent introduction to the works of Dickens. A World Full of Dickens Stories by Angela McAllister provides “gently” abridged and illustrated Dickens novels ranging from Oliver Twist to A Tale of Two Cities to A Christmas Carol to Hard Times. There is an illustrated cast of characters before each approximately 15 page story. There are also a glossary of important words (appropriate for young readers learning), a brief Dickens biography and a timeline of his life. So it becomes a full learning tool, but don’t tell the children. And there are many parents who will enjoy reading this with or to their children (or possibly independently).

The full list of novels included:
Oliver Twist
The Old Curiosity Shop
David Copperfield
Great Expectations
A Tale of Two Cities
A Christmas Carol
Nicholas Nickleby
Hard Times

This book is definitely recommended as a great introduction to classics of English literature for young people, whether they read further In this area or not. They are classic for a reason.

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I'm not that familiar with Dickens' work, but I think these stories summarize the originals well while keeping them accessible to young readers. The illustrations are also nice and creepy!

This is perfect for children. Classic stories retold with children as an audience in mind. Brilliant! The illustrations were cute and colorful. My children enjoyed this so much!

This anthology, features eight of Charles Dickens' best-loved tales, including Oliver Twist, The Old Curiosity Shop, Great Expectations and A Christmas Carol. The author has adapted Dicken’s favorites into short stories, about 15 pages per tale. I’ve never read a Dickens’s book and am not familiar with the his style. I did find the writing, although modified and simplified, to be well developed and detailed.

The Cast of Characters section at the beginning of each story was especially helpful. Along with the character’s name is a portrait and brief description of the cast in each story.
I thought several of the tales read like soap operas, full of juicy intrigue.
If you want to read the Dickens tales and don’t want to invest a huge amount of time, this is a good anthology for you... middle school through adults.
There are a lot of expressive illustrations to accompany the text.

This is a nice way for children or young people to experience Dickens' Stories, without the pressure of reading the original publishing! The language is easy, the pictures fitting and beautiful. I also like that they have pulled out the most important aspect of the stories so that they aren't too long or overwhelming!

My thanks to the Quarto Publishing Group - Frances Lincoln Children's Books for a temporary digital edition of ‘A World Full of Dickens Stories’ by Angela McAllister and illustrated by Jannicke Hansen in exchange for an honest review. It is due to be published on 7 July 2020.

Written for young readers, aged 7-11, this is an illustrated anthology that retells eight of Charles Dickens’ novels. Each one is retold in a simplified fashion, while retaining the essence of the original. Those included are: Oliver Twist, The Old Curiosity Shop, David Copperfield, Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities, A Christmas Carol, Nicholas Nickleby, and Hard Times.

Each chapter opens with an illustrated cast of the main characters, which is very useful, and the volume concludes with a timeline of Dickens’ life and a glossary of terms. Jannicke Hansen’s illustrations are charming and utilise a muted colour palette that suits the period.

While I have read some of the novels included, others I only had a passing awareness of. So, even for me as an adult reader, it served as both a reminder for the ones I knew and a taster for those yet to be read.

Dickens’ novels are quite somber in their themes and I appreciated that ‘A World Full of Dickens Stories’ didn’t shy away from the disappointments, turns of fortune and deaths within them.

Overall, I feel that this book will be of interest to parents and educators who are looking to introduce young readers to the works of Dickens. Also, one for both public and school libraries.