Important Background Info:
Charles Dickens writes wonderfully, including practically everything that seems to make Christmas, well, Christmas.
What I liked:
Dickens includes a mention of the real reason for Christmas ☺️. While his book isn’t explicitly Christian, it definitely has that as a basis for some of it.
The moral aspect of A Christmas Carol isn’t preachy. In fact, though it’s what the entire book is about, it’s tied it very nicely.
I like the way Charles Dickens writes. One of my all-time favorite classics is A Tale of Two Cities, also by Dickens. His writing isn’t super elegant, but he is able to make words do things and create images you wouldn’t necessarily expect. He has the same style in this book, where he describes Scrooge as “a tight-fisted hand at the grind-stone, Scrooge! A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner!”
Content Concerns/Things to know:
Please note that I read laser focused on looking for content concerns so that I can write this review. It’s going to seem like there are a lot, but often they’re incredibly easy to gloss over or miss, and they’re not as concerning within the context of the story.
Christian/other beliefs:
Dickens includes a mention of the real reason for Christmas ☺️. While his book isn’t explicitly Christian, it definitely has that as a basis for some of it.
Of course, there are ghosts, as they are the ones who help Scrooge change. This means there are a couple of other supernatural elements to the story. They are an integral part.
Romance:
At a Christmas party, two characters are shown to like each other.
Violence:
Nothing really.
Language:
There is one use of the A word, too mean donkey (as it used to mean).
God’s name is misused a couple times.
Other things to know:
If you are going to read this book to younger kids, you’d better be prepared to explain what Dickens means in several parts. His story is clean enough, I think, to read as a family, but he wrote this for adults, and young kids won’t understand his wording.
The third spirit – the spirit of Christmas Yet to Come might be frightening.
Scrooge is a horrid person and is entirely cranky (at the beginning). Tiny Tim is shown to have died unless Scrooge changes his ways.
Conclusion:
Unless I missed something in the old-fashioned language, those are the only content concerns in the story. There are so many variations of A Christmas Carol that you probably know the basic story by heart. I’m pretty sure that even Veggie Tales did their own version of the story. Knowing the story so well does make reading the book less exciting, but you do lose something (in my opinion) by not knowing how it was originally told. I suggest reading it
Discussion Questions:
What changed Scrooge?
Why do you think Scrooge had to be visited by the spirits? Do you think he would have changed without them?
What is the true reason we celebrate Christmas?
Why do you think Scrooge’s nephew kept trying to formulate a relationship with his uncle?
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Not included cuz God’s name is misused.
Book Summaries:
It’s incredibly difficult to locate a book summary, but I presume you already know the story. 🙂
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