A Christmas Carol: Special Edition – Charles Dickens/Stephen Shelton

 

 A Christmas Carol

Paperback: 128 pages
Publisher: Standard Publishing (September 1, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0784723915
ISBN-13: 978-0784723913 
Order from here:
amazon
 
 
 

Review

The story is very familiar. Ebenezer Scrooge is a hateful old man. One Christmas eve, he’s visited by 3 spirits. These spirits show him what his life was, is, and will be. The goal is redemption. But will Scrooge repent of his vileness. Only time and Mr. Dickens will tell. This was the first time I’ve actually read this book, though I have seen numerous versions of it every year.

The language is what you would expect from the Era it’s written in. Some words phrases I didn’t find myself very familiar with. Luckily, this edition had notes for some areas for example “comforter”. To us, at least in the U.S. a comforter is similar to a blanket. However, in this time period, it referred to a scarf. The story is divided into 5 staves. I found out that a Stave is the typical breakdowns in a carol, as opposed to chapters that we usually find in books. This was to make the book more like a Christmas song vs. a novel. Mr. Shelton takes Dickens story and adds notes from a variety of sources. At the end of each stave, there are also discussion questions. These questions cover topics such as Selfishness, and forgiveness.

I found the notes and the discussion questions very appealing. While it definitely has a Christian spin to it, I think it could be a good copy of the novel for everyone. The discussion questions, for those not of the Christian persuasion, can be adapted. They are nice though, because they give you a way to relate to Scrooge’s story.

If you don’t have a copy of this book in your library, or want a copy you can share with your family, church groups, or anyone else, check this version out. I think you’d like it. At $7.99 it would be money well spent, and would make a nice stocking stuffer.

I wanted a discussion group for this, during the holidays. There wasn’t a big reaction, but if you want to participate, you can discuss it here. You’ll need to register first here.

*DISCLAIMER* A review copy of this book was provided to me by FSB Associates for review. This in no way influenced my review.

3 people like this post.

Reply