If you are a fan of Dickens’ work and are looking to share this your children this would be perfect. It takes Dickens’ stories and retells them in a way that kids can understand. I love how each story gave a small glimpse of the characters with a brief description. The illustrations were definitely a little creepy, but Dickens’ work never was super bright and happy. The stories are true to his work. The illustrations coincide nicely. They are pretty quick reads too. Just enough information to condense Dickens’ super detailed work into material suitable for kids.

I received an electronic ARC from Quarto Group through NetGalley.
McAllister kept the integrity of Dickens' stories and simplified the language so middle grade readers could follow the plots. She includes eight of his books in this volume. Each captures the basic plots and twists involved in the full works. The illustrations offer realistic views of the time periods being presented. Definitely makes me want to pull out my copies of Dickens' work and reread the full stories.
Excellent introduction for upper elementary or lower middle school level readers. The book offers a taste of the rich characters and plots in each of the novels included.
Informative text at the end as well - Brief Bio, Timeline and Glossary.

This was a condensed version of several Dickens' stories. They were rewritten for children to read. Each story was roughly twenty pages or less. It was very well written, and I loved the illustrations. I think this book will be a good stepping stone for children to the classics.

A World Full Of Dickens Stories by Angela McAllister is an anthology of tales from Charles Dickens, rewritten and adapted in an accessible way for children. Jannicke Hansen illustrates these whimsical tales excellently and further helps tell these classic Dickens tales to children.

Before this book, I had read Great Expectations and A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. McAllister does a great job condensing Dickens extensive works and making them concise for children. I highly recommend this for children as well as any Dickens' fans

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Amazing as ever, McAllister creates another unique book for children and adults with a childlike spirit. Having read and enjoyed A World Full of Spooky Stories, this is my second book of the author and I have to say I am impressed.
If you wish familiarize your children with classic literature and Dickens’ stories, then this is a priceless source. This precious book contains the following stories by Dickens: Oliver Twist, The Old Curiosity Shop, David Copperfield, A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations, A Christmas Carol, Nicholas Nickleby and Hard Times abbreviated with a simplified language. The illustrations support the stories, the abbreviations are quite adequate both in content and language. The original spirit of the stories is not lost, on the contrary, I think it is perfect to instill the love of literature to young minds and hearts. Perhaps you may have second thoughts whether to expose children to Dickens’s bleak and dark tales filled with evil deeds, wicked characters, poverty and death, but that’s the reality of life and the sooner they learn about them, the better and what better way to teach the twisted ways and ugly truth of life than reading Charles Dickens stories?
This is an engaging version of the famous author’s greatest stories specially structured and illustrated for youngsters but I have to admit I enjoyed it as an adult and it felt refreshing to revisit my favorite stories. Definitely recommended!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This beautifully presented book contains eight of Dickens' most well-known works, adapted to be more accessible to younger readers.

Each story retains the meaning but is more easy to access for younger readers. There is a clearly illustrated character list before each story which helps the reader visualise the characters. While language has been simplified, the meaning remains and Dickens' recurring themes are still obvious. Beautifully illustrated, this is a joy to read and would make an excellent introduction to the works of Dickens.

Delightful introduction to Charles Dickens for young readers! Very charmingly illustrated, and artfully abridged. I am a fan of the "world full of" series from this publisher.

4 out of 5 🌟Detailed stories with brilliant illustrations

‘A World Full of Dickens Stories’  are kids-friendly versions of Dickens' novels including these most famous like 'The Tale of Two Cities', 'The Christmas Story' or 'Oliver Twist' and the ones I didn't hear of before - 'The Old Curiosity Shop' and 'Nicholas Nickleby' and a couple more. Overall, is a good selection of his work that focuses on children and young adults as the central characters. Each story is generously decorated with brilliant illustrations by Jannicke Hansen.

The book combines eight of Charles Dickens' novels that are compressed to about 15-page short stories which at times makes histories hard to follow with action jumps and a variety of personalities. To help the reader to keep up with all the characters, each work starts with an introduction page where all story cast is listed with a brief description and their portrait. Very nice and helpful touch!

Reading 'A World Full of Dickens Stories' all at once may not be the best idea to befriend kids with Charles Dickens, mostly because his works tend to be repetitive when read in a row. The stories are pretty long and compressed with almost all the details, in consequence, they're a bit dry. My idea when I reached for this book was to see a simplistic retold version of each novel.

Overall, wonderful illustrations turn reading 'A World Full of Dickens Stories' into a pleasure. And detailed stories (recommended to read one-at-a-time) provide great entertainment also encouraging to explore the large variety of Dickens' Literary Universe.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and feelings are my own.

Would you like to introduce a child to the magic of Charles Dickens's stories?  The novels themselves, of course, are lengthy while this collection is a beautifully illustrated introduction to a number of the books.


Included in the retellings 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 story begins with a helpful illustrated list of characters. 


The stories are expertly retold, having sufficient detail to not just be summaries, and may well inspire a child to read one of the full length books.  That would be a good project for the current moment. All in all, a wonderful resource.


Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this title in exchange for an honest review.

This is such a charming anthology. It's a collection of classic stories, including well-loved favourites like The Christmas Carol, Oliver Twist, and David Copperfield. Angela McAllister's retellings are very accessible and preserve the spirit of the stories and Jannicke Hansen brings them to life with such beautiful artwork and a very Dickensian palette too. I especially loved the 'Cast of Characters' section at the beginning of each story.

This is a lovely collection for anyone looking to share these classics with young children and it would make a wonderful gift.

An amazing introduction to some of the greatest works of Charles Dickens. I'd recommend it to children aged 8-11 and the glossary at the back would ensure they fully understand what they read. The art is mesmersing in its use of crayon strokes to add texture and it definitely heightens up the emotion (and underlying sense of gloominess) within each story. All 8 stories are wonderfully concise and convey either the distress, love or hope portrayed. My favourite was the classic Christmas Carol- it brings out the redemptive happiness every single time. My favourite illustrations however, were for Tale of Two Cities and David Copperfield- the large illustrated spreads were a delight.

Covering eight iconic tales, this book weaves beautiful illustrations with condensed versions of eight classics by Charles Dickens. The simplified stories offer a great introduction to Dickens for children (and adults). The stories include much-loved Oliver Twist, dark and mysterious Great Expectations, and A Christmas Carol. Each story is around 15 pages long and covers a lot of detail while remaining simple and easy to read. The illustrations perfectly depict the stories and add an extra layer, making it easy for the reader to picture the scene in perfect clarity.

I would highly recommend this as a reading book for parents and children. It's a brilliant introduction to Dickens and would be great to discover together.

I love how engaging and simplified these are to introduce young readers to Charles Dickens. They are very much shortened but still keep the magic of each book.

A beautifully illustrated book, and the stories are short enough for children of all ages to enjoy.
A wonderfully selection of Charles Dickens wonderful tales. My children have loved it!