November 21, 2011
Though Charles Dickens’s canon includes more stories about rather than for children, this intimate, fictionalized account of the writer’s boyhood, from the creators of Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek, suggests how his budding literary imagination foreshadowed his future achievements. Hopkinson’s conversational prose immediately lands readers on the foggy streets of Victorian London: “Come along, now. We are here to search for a boy called Dickens.” The 12-year-old boy tells stories to entertain his colleagues at the factory where he works while his family is stuck in debtors’ prison; one tale features an orphan named David who tries to persuade his Aunt Betsey to take him in.
As readers follow Dickens through the streets, where he’s “surrounded by pickpockets; ladies with shattered hopes; a miserly old man; a young gentleman with great expectations,” his inspiration is palpable. Dominated by grays and browns, Hendrix’s mixed-media illustrations picture a grim, coal-dusted London, one in which the characters taking shape in Dickens’s mind sweep through the streets as blue specters; yet Hendrix also conveys the boy’s optimism and creativity during a difficult chapter in his childhood. Ages 4–9. Author’s and illustrator’s agent: Writers House.
Starred review from November 15, 2011
Metafictive techniques and atmospheric graphite, ink and acrylic compositions effectively pull readers into the life and soul of 12-year-old Charles Dickens. As in Hendrix and Hopkinson's Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek (2008), the narrator addresses the audience directly, inviting viewers to search for the boy in the London fog, experience his long day in the vermin-infested shoe-polish factory and consider the effects of dysfunctional parenting on a youth. Both accessible and rich in simile and metaphor, this fictionalized biography concerns the budding novelist's coming of age, as he ekes out a living (during his family's stint in debtors' prison) and pursues his dream. Page designs vary, some combining four distinct layers: a Leonardo-inspired composition that creates convincing depth in the hazy distance; a realistic cityscape bathed in grays and browns; close-up, highly-focused caricatures, rendered in a brighter palette; and swirling, blue, otherworldly figments of the boy's imagination. He is often "surrounded by…ladies with shattered hopes; a miserly old man; a young gentleman with great expectations…." David Copperfield appears in an imagined encounter relayed to Dickens' friend, Fagin. The final scene portrays the celebrated adult author, after which Hopkinson reflects on Dickens' difficulty in discussing his adolescence and "how much we all might lose when a child's dreams don't come true." This thoughtful and entertaining portrait offers a model for reading critically that will bear fruit as readers grow. (author's note) (Picture book. 5-9)
(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)
Starred review from January 1, 2012
Gr 2-5-Dickens wrote so many stories about young boys wending their way on the streets of Victorian London that readers might wonder what his own childhood was like. This book tells the story of his early years spent working in a boot-blacking factory to help support his family while his father was in debtor's prison. Although the 12-year-old's life was dismal and dreary, he dreams of something better and keeps his hopes alive by reading and making up stories. Hopkinson's engaging text invites readers to experience the story with her: "Come along, now. We are here to search for a boy called Dickens." Although the book has only a few paragraphs per spread, it is full of well-crafted description and detail. Hendrix's acrylic, ink, and pencil illustrations capture the moods of the text. His London landscapes are busy and brimming with smoky atmosphere. Although the backgrounds are dreary, the people are cartoonish, which lightens the tone of the narrative. Hopkinson ends with a brief statement explaining which parts of the story are based on fact, and which are fictionalized. This is a great introduction to Dickens and a possible replacement for worn-out copies of Diane Stanley's Charles Dickens: the Man Who Had Great Expectations (Morrow, 1993), which covers more of Dickens' life, but is, sadly, out of print.-Donna Cardon, Provo City Library, UT
Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
Starred review from December 15, 2011
Grades 3-5 *Starred Review* Looking for a picture-book biography of Dickens to celebrate his 200th birthday in 2012? Look elsewhere, as this isn't so much a biography as it is a slice of life, and a revealing one at that. This fictionalized account is set during the time 12-year-old Dickens toiled away in a blacking factory while the rest of his family lived in debtors' prison. To help ease the boredom and stave off hunger, the boy dreams up stories, including a rudimentary seedling of a tale that would become David Copperfield. Even when his family pays off its debt and returns home, the boy who loves books and reading toils away for six shillings a day until shame prompts his father to finally send the boy back to school. Any story of Charles Dickens is also the story of one of the great atmospheres in literary history, and a central spread of the boy walking home after a grueling work day could well serve as a visual definition of the word Dickensian. In this bustling, grimy scene, Dickens threads his way through pickpockets; ladies with shattered hopes; a miserly old man; a young gentleman with great expectations; a proud, heartless girl; and keepers of old curiosity shops. Dancing through wide-angled perspectives and tight close-ups, Hendrix's cleanly inked figures are aptly set against cityscapes covered in sooty charcoals. A fine introduction to the writer, and a terrific, completely unpreachy departure point for discussions of child labor and social reform.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)
January 1, 2012
A young Charles Dickens dashes about the streets of London, alone. His family in debtors' prison, he supports himself working ten-hour days in a blacking factory. He spends the long days turning the drama he lives and witnesses into stories, to entertain his companions and kindle his dreams of becoming a writer. Hopkinson adopts a conversational style, addressing the reader directly to relate the story in the present tense. This implied rapport gives the biography the immediacy of her young Dickens's stories, echoing his telling without invoking the florid convolutions of his adult writing. Hendrix's spindly, open-faced figure work is unmistakably his own, while the clusters of characters in the overcrowded compositions recall Phiz's original illustrations for Dickens's novels. The artist paints a smoke-stained London in sepia and rust, and against this drab backdrop Dickens's imaginings, including characters and situations from his most famous novels, stand out in lucid blues. In another stroke of clever symbolism, Hendrix decorates the opening endpapers with artifacts of Victorian squalor -- rats and breadcrumbs and candle stubs -- replacing them at the back with the folios of Dickens's novels into which they have been transformed. An endnote mentions the author's thorough research and clarifies the story's particulars as fiction. thom barthelmess
(Copyright 2012 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)
July 1, 2012
His family in debtors' prison, a young Charles Dickens supports himself by working in a factory. He spends the long days turning the drama he witnesses into stories. Hopkinson adopts a conversational style, addressing readers directly to give the tale immediacy. Hendrix paints a smoke-stained London in sepia and rust, and against this drab backdrop Dickens's imaginings stand out in lucid blues.
(Copyright 2012 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)