Oliver Twist (Classic Starts Series)

by Charles Dickens, Kathleen Olmstead (Abridged by), Dan Andreasen (Illustrator), Arthur Pober (Afterword)

Overview

Dickens’ timeless novel transports young readers to a colorful Victorian England filled with mistreated orphans, grim workhouses, and gangs of thieving children. The hero finds himself in dire circumstances after he dares to beg for more food in the orphanage. Determined to make his way in the world, he escapes to London, where he becomes involved with criminals…and finally finds a real home.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781402726651
Publisher:	Union Square Kids
Publication date:	03/28/2006
Series:	Classic Starts®
Edition description:	Modern Retelling
Pages:	160
Sales rank:	115,579
Product dimensions:	5.38(w) x 7.50(h) x (d)
Age Range:	7 - 9 Years

About the Author

Charles Dickens, perhaps the best British novelist of the Victorian era, was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England on February 7, 1812. His happy early childhood was interrupted when his father was sent to debtors' prison, and young Dickens had to go to work in a factory at age twelve. Later, he took jobs as an office boy and journalist before publishing essays and stories in the 1830s. His first novel, The Pickwick Papers, made him a famous and popular author at the age of twenty-five. Subsequent works were published serially in periodicals and cemented his reputation as a master of colorful characterization, and as a harsh critic of social evils and corrupt institutions. His many books include Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Bleak House, Great Expectations, Little Dorrit, A Christmas Carol, and A Tale of Two Cities. Dickens married Catherine Hogarth in 1836, and the couple had nine children before separating in 1858 when he began a long affair with Ellen Ternan, a young actress. Despite the scandal, Dickens remained a public figure, appearing often to read his fiction. He died in 1870, leaving his final novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, unfinished.

Date of Birth:

February 7, 1812

Date of Death:

June 18, 1870

Place of Birth:

Portsmouth, England

Place of Death:

Gad's Hill, Kent, England

Education:

Home-schooling; attended Dame School at Chatham briefly and Wellington