Charles Dickens's "A Christmas Carol" - A Graphic Novel by Benjamin Harper & Dono Sanchez-Almara (2016)

Charles Dickens's "A Christmas Carol" (2016)
A Graphic Novel by Benjamin Harper & Dono Sanchez-Almara

Here's a snappy little retelling of "A Christmas Carol" geared, I believe, towards 'tweens/young teens. It's billed as a "graphic novel" which sounds more impressive than "comic book," as we used to say in my day!

This is part of the Capstone series from Stone Arch Books, which I guess is sort of a modern version of the old "Classics Illustrated" comic boo-, um, graphic novels in that they present accessible versions of classic stories to younger readers.

These are the sort of things that kids used to use for book reports instead of reading the actual books. But remember, kids: Stay in school and do your homework!

Like most such series, "A Christmas Carol" found its way into the mix and we're all the better for it!

This whole book is about 70 pages, but it gets just about every story element in there, so a kid can definitely learn the story here and be ready to watch any adaptation and know what's going on. They might still think Gonzo is Charles Dickens, but what're you gonna do?

The language isn't really dumbed down, but it's a bit less Dickensian in spots, still using some of the original text.

I'm not sure what the art style is known as, but it's a fresh, modern look that I think is inspired by manga, but not as far out as that can be. Again, something the modern kid would like.

If, like me, you're curious how the story is currently being presented to kids, it's definitely worth a look. And if you know any 'tweens, this would be  great gift.

Hey, it's a great gift for anybody, which I can attest to, as this was given to me as a gift from my awesome wife!

I don't want to say too much else, as I think everyone should by this , but of course, I have to point out a couple of things that give this a bit of a twist!

We see the tombstones of Jacob Marley and Ebenezer Scrooge in this book and they both have the years of birth and death. Marley's are listed as 1767-1833, which means that he was 66 when he died and that since he was dead for seven years when the story starts, the present year is 1840.

Scrooge's dates are shown as 1789-1849, which means he would have died at the age of 60, nine years after the events of the story, except maybe he didn't because he changed.

This also would mean that Marley was 22 years older then Scrooge. In the book, Marley's pigtail and manner of dress implies that he was a generation older than Scrooge, so this graphic novel goes with that. Good work there!

And whoever is responsible for showing the possessive as Dickens's rather than Dickens' gets my thanks! That's how I learned it. Dickens is one guy, not more than one Dicken!