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I love Usborne Books. I've said that before. I'll say it again.I LOVE Usborne Books. They are a high quality children's book publisher and no doubt you are already aware of them. What mother isn't? They've got class! They have such a large catalog that it's hard to narrow down your top picks for any season of the year. I wanted to poke around and see what they had to offer for Christmas specifically and I discovered that they had a picture book of Dickens' A Christmas Carol.
My son isn't old enough for the full version of Dickens' famous Christmas classic (not that it's all that long of a story, in an of itself) and so I thought I'd like to see if this picture book might be a good way to introduce him to the story. (I had previously tried Mickey's Christmas Carol but Goofy didn't go over so very well as the ghost of Marley.)
This book is marked for ages 5-9 and I think that's about right. Given the fact that good old Ebenezer Scrooge runs into the Ghosts of Christmases past, present and future, it can be a hefty subject matter for the little ones to deal with. My son, being four, will probably not receive his introduction to this story until next year. But when the time comes, the introduction will come courtesy of Usborne Books!
The story is simple and straightforward, not deviating from Dickens' tale. It is edited by Jenny Tyler who keeps the story simplistic in nature, averaging about five sentences per page spread. This book is illustrated by Alan Marks who, I feel, does a good job telling the story without making it too spooky or scary. The book has a calming blue-toned feel to it, with a lot of yellows and greens. I think that helps to make the story more welcoming and inviting to little ones. The ghosts are still ghosts, of course. Every parent knows best what their individual children can handle. I would say that this book could be a great fit for ages 3 or 4, depending on the child. I think we'll be good to go on this next year, when Bookworm1 will be five and the appropriate age for it according to Usborne Books also.
If you are looking for a friendly introduction to this timeless and well-loved tale, check out Usborne Books and More.
Per usual, my thanks goes to Usborne Books for making a commitment to publishing quality children's literature.
5 comments:
This sounds like a pretty good version of the Dickens classic. I tried the Muppet's Christmas Carol movie last year and the child ghost scared the boys. I thought the "death" ghost was the scariest. I haven't tried anything else for awhile, this might be a good way to re-enter Dickens!
Love Usborne books as well! This one sounds especially good! Will have to check it out!
Sounds good.
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We LOVE A Christmas Carol. Joel read the story aloud with Will last year and is doing it again this year. We also watched the Muppets version. My kids were a little nervous about the future ghost but the Muppets helped them not be scared. It's one of my favorite holiday movies. Out of all the Christmas books I've collected I don't have even one Christmas Carol picture book. Might have to remedy that before next year.
I don't think I've seen the Muppet Christmas Carol in YEARS. Several people that we know and love seem to really enjoy it though so perhaps we need to visit it. MY Favorite version is Mickey's Christmas Carol though and I DID re-introduce Bookworm1 to it this year and he likes it (now that I've told him that Goofy is just being silly and we have to fast forward through the future ghost who is dark and "smokey."
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