Books with title Children's Stories from Dickens

John Charles Ryle (1816-1900), the first Bishop of Liverpool. Ryle was a strong supporter of the evangelical school and a critic of Ritualism. He was a writer, pastor and an evangelical preacher. Children will enjoy reading these stories but this is also an interesting and intriguing book for any involved with children at home or at church. Ryle's stories open a window on a different era. They show how children were taught the truths of the Bible then and still can be today.

This anthology is a thorough introduction to classic literature for those who have not yet experienced these literary masterworks. For those who have known and loved these works in the past, this is an invitation to reunite with old friends in a fresh new format. From Shakespeare s finesse to Oscar Wilde s wit, this unique collection brings together works as diverse and influential as The Pilgrim s Progress and Othello. As an anthology that invites readers to immerse themselves in the masterpieces of the literary giants, it is must-have addition to any library.

When we consider Dickens's life and work, in comparison with that of the two great poets we have been studying, the contrast is startling. While Tennyson and Browning were being educated for the life of literature, and shielded most tenderly from the hardships of the world, Dickens, a poor, obscure, and suffering child, was helping to support a shiftless family by pasting labels on blacking bottles, sleeping under a counter like a homeless cat, and once a week timidly approaching the big prison where his father was confined for debt. In 1836 his Pickwick was published, and life was changed as if a magician had waved his wand over him. While the two great poets were slowly struggling for recognition, Dickens, with plenty of money and too much fame, was the acknowledged literary hero of England, the idol of immense audiences which gathered to applaud him wherever he appeared. And there is also this striking contrast between the novelist and the poets,--that while the whole tendency of the age was toward realism, away from the extremes of the romanticists and from the oddities and absurdities of the early novel writers, it was precisely by emphasizing oddities and absurdities, by making caricatures rather than characters, that Dickens first achieved his popularity.

Includes: The Personal History of David Copperfield, The Story of Smike and His Teacher, The Story of Little Nell, The Sory of Paul and Florence Dombey, The Story of Pip as Told by Himself, The Story of Little Dorrit, The Story of Oliver Twist and Sissy Jupe, the Child of the Circus. Edited for young readers. Reprint of the 1924 edition. Some drawings throughout.

Extract: TROTTY VECK AND HIS DAUGHTER MEG. "TROTTY" seems a strange name for an old man, but it was given to Toby Veck because of his always going at a trot to do his errands; for he was a porter, and carried letters and messages for people who were in too great a hurry to send them by the post. He did not earn very much, and had to be out in all weathers and all day long. But Toby was of a cheerful disposition, and looked on the bright side of everything. His greatest joy was his dear daughter Meg, who loved him dearly. One cold day Toby had been trotting up and down in his usual place before the church, when the bells chimed twelve o'clock, which made Toby think of dinner. "There's nothing," he remarked, "more regular in coming round than dinner-time, and nothing less regular in coming round than dinner. That's the great difference between 'em." He went on talking to himself never noticing who was coming near to him. "Why, father, father," said a pleasant voice, and Toby turned to find his daughter's sweet, bright eyes close to his. "Why, pet," said he, kissing her, "what's-to-do? I didn't expect you to-day, Meg." "Neither did I expect to come, father," said Meg, smiling. "But here I am! And not alone, not alone!"