Reviewed by Emily-Jane Hills Orford for Readers' Favorite
Charles Dickens’s classic story, A Christmas Carol, is as popular today as it has been for almost two centuries. There have been movie adaptations and numerous retellings of this story about greed and the true meaning of Christmas. Scrooge, visited by the three ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future, must have a complete change of heart to make this story complete, to repeat within our hearts what we should already know about love and kindness and all the good things we love about Christmas.
Norman Whaler’s children’s book, A Christmas Carol (With Audio Christmas Carols and Print Music), is a classic in itself. A wonderful, clever retelling of Dicken’s tale, the author weaves his own spell around this touching story. Told in rhyming verse and beautifully illustrated, the lyricism of the author/poet’s words will sing as movingly as the classic Christmas carols included in this book and accompanying audio recording. Christmas carol sheet music fills the final pages so young readers can learn to play the Christmas music and/or sing along with the audio recording. “Don’t you understand?” the ghost now enquired,/ “To those who’ve been blessed, much is required!/ Each day we can choose to remember the needs of others/ and know that in God’s eyes, we’re all sisters and brothers.” And the heartfelt words of Tiny Tim, whose love reached out to each and everyone in spite of his own handicaps and pain:
“God bless us, everyone!” A fascinating way to introduce Dickens’s classic to young readers.