This is a short biographical sketch of a man whose life was as fascinating and colorful as his books. Well written for such a brief introduction.
After read this book you should think children's non-fictions are great places to get "just enough" information on many valuable topics. Diane Stanley does nice work with her biographies and you should felt like Dickens' story is especially informative. You can certainly see where many of his stories came from!
The authors follow their splendid Bard of Avon (1992, ALA Notable) with an equally handsome book on the beloved novelist. Dickens's troubled, well-documented life has plenty to interest children--the early vicissitudes depicted in David Copperfield, his championship of needy children, the reception of his books and dramatic readings in the US (where he was ``horrified by the hideous institution of slavery''). Nicely shaping their lucid, accessible narrative, the authors begin with Dickens's boyhood dream of living in Gad's Hill (his actual home in his last years) and temper a discreet account of his unfortunate marriage with first-love Maria Beadnell's comical reappearance--plump, middle- aged, and tiresomely persistent. While linking the biographical facts to the fiction, they focus on the life itself; it makes a lively, entertaining story for children who enjoy A Christmas Carol in its various guises. As in Bard, Stanley uses an elegantly muted palette and delicately stylized figures, bringing decorative period patterns to her beautifully structured compositions; full-bleed art draws readers into the appealing scenes, while b&w text-page vignettes recall Victorian engravings. A must. Brief bibliography (standard adult works; three books for young readers; 14 of Dickens's most familiar works).
About the Author
Diane Stanley is the author and illustrator of beloved books for young readers, including Saving Sky, which ALA Booklist, in a starred review, called "beautifully written" and noted that "parallels to our contemporary times appear on every page. . . . The young people manifest a courage few can emulate"; Bella at Midnight, a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year and an ALA Booklist Editor's Choice; The Mysterious Case of the Allbright Academy; The Mysterious Matter of I. M. Fine; and A Time Apart. Well known as the author and illustrator of award-winning picture-book biographies, she is the recipient of the Washington Post-Children's Book Guild Nonfiction Award for the body of her work.
Ms. Stanley has also written and illustrated numerous picture books, including three creatively reimagined fairy tales: The Giant and the Beanstalk, Goldie and the Three Bears, and Rumpelstiltskin's Saughter. She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
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