Andrea Warren is the author of award-winning & non-fiction titles, such as We Rode the Orphan Trains, Under Siege:Three Children in the Civil War and the Battle for Vicksburg.

More than autobiography of the famous author, it gives detailed accounts of his traumatic childhood. Enlarging this personal sphere, Warren incorporates the laws, mores, and ethics of the mid to late 1800’s, especially illuminating the upper classes and their beliefs and behavior toward those living in poverty. Attitudes toward children and infants were no exception to the social Darwinism, and it is chilling.

Amidst this, Charles Dickens matures and develops a strong sense of responsibility to educate the wealthy point out their lack of humanism. Warren weaves in stories of the composer, Handel and the artist, Hogarth among those who influenced Dickens and who worked to erode the ignorance and denial by the wealthier classes toward the working class and poor. Carefully documented with primary images and text documentation, Warren offers a list of Dickens’ works, a Selected Bibliography, and Works Consulted.

A Christmas Carol Read this from The Library of Congress, free, as an eBook

Published in 1843, this book has become favorite ghost story, especially at Christmas. Here, Dickens incorporates his ardor to change social mores through this sentimental story that still engages the heart. Online in eBook format from the Library of Congress http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.rbc/bit.37729

Oliver Twist

In this novel, Dickens uses his own experience when young, working in a blacking shop to convey the hopelessness those feel who are born into London’s working-class and poorer environments. He combines this with the real-life conditions of orphaned children who are forced to work in deadly jobs, such as a chimney sweep, to develop a setting filled with tension. The child is always the hero, and Oliver is no different, as he continues to believe in goodness despite his life.

Title recommendations with Charles Dickens as a character and/or influence

The Haunting of Charles Dickens by Lewis Buzzbe

Charles Dickens helps a young woman solve the mystery of her missing brother in this historical fiction title set in 19th century London.

The Cheshire Cheese Cat: a Dickens of a Tale by Carmen Agra Deedy, illus. Barry Moser

Anthropomorphic adventure tale that mimics Dickens novels – those oppressed versus the bullies. Illustrations are sublimely rendered making this a treasure for younger readers.

The Traitor’s Gate by Avi

Avi, a fan of Dickens, begins his suspense tale with the father in debtors’ prison (not unlike Dickens ‘father), and this fourteen year-old assuming the responsibilities for his family and uncovering family secrets.

Don’t forget about audio books for reluctant readers!

For a life-long fan of Dickens this was a fun read as I learned about the street children and those who helped them.

I love you Charles Dickens!!! Charles Dickens has always been one of my favorite authors and I'm so happy to have finished this book on his birthday. This was a really interesting book about how his early experiences and writing affected social change by exposing the plight of the poor in London, especially the children.

I really enjoyed this. I have never given much thought to Charles Dickens the person, and this tween-level biography gave a reasonably comprehensive picture of his life, particularly his childhood which informed his writing so much.

I would be very much interested to know more about his relationship with his wife and their children, which this book did not go into too great of detail about.

Overall, an interesting biography of an admirable and complex man.

My favorite biography of Charles Dickens so far. His writings are woven among the many social causes he supported. The class structure of England is examined and compared to that of France at the time of the French Revolution. American Civil War soldiers read his novels around their campfires.

Although I've read and loved several books by Charles Dickens, I knew little of his background as a social reformer and advocate for some of England's neediest citizens. This book detailed his efforts to help child laborers and other victims of neglect, corruption, and societal indifference in Victorian England. I'm inspired to return to his novels with fresh eyes.

I am a huge fan of A Christmas Carol - our family is now in its 3rd year of involvement with our local community theater's annual musical production. My middle dd played Belinda in '08, she was student director in '10 and I"m the producer this year (Auditions are coming up in 2 wks so we don't yet know if either of my girls will be cast) so I was very excited to be given the opportunity to read and review this book.
Charles Dickens and the Street Children of London is being published by Houghton Mifflin Books for Children for grades 7and up. I feel this book will be more so enjoyed by adults and high school students than it will be middle school kids. Students in 7th and 8th grade will not yet be familiar with many of Dickens works and so will not understand the references.
I very much enjoyed reading this book and learning more about the plight of children in London and how it is that Dickens came to make them a prominent part of so many of his works. The book has beautiful black and white photographs and illustrations - some even from the first edition of A Christmas Carol. I did find one mistake in an illustration's caption but I'm sure that will be corrected prior to publication.

An excellent YA-level biography of Dickens, examining his life through the social ills at which his books took aim. The narrative is a bit too inclined to give Dickens extra credit for what were surely complex social responses to the humanitarian crisis that was 19th century London, and to soften some of Dickens' own caddish behavior toward his wife. But the author deftly interweaves details of Dickens' life with accounts of his famous novels, and uses both to give a vivid (and fairly damning) look at the social, legal, and technological forces at work in his time. In the end, this is as much a biography of Victoran England as it is of Dickens.

30% history, 30% biography, 30% condescendingly amateur literary analysis, 1% hero worship.

Interesting, though!

Nice contextualization of Dickens, full of interesting information. Occasionally a bit didactic and dry, but very easy-reading style and good illustrations (although I wouldn't have minded more of them). Still, for a kid who reads Dickens in school and wants to know more (those kids exist, right?) it's a solid offering.