Great Expectations: Manga Classics

by Charles Dickens, Crystal S. Chan (Adapted by), Poon (Artist)

Overview

This is the story of an English orphan named Pip who rises to wealth, deserts his true friends, and becomes humbled by his own arrogance. It also introduces one of the more colorful characters in literature: Miss Havisham. Dickens set Great Expectations during the time that England was becoming a wealthy world power. Machines were making factories more productive, yet people lived in awful conditions.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781927925317
Publisher:	UDON Entertainment Inc.
Publication date:	03/01/2015
Series:	Manga Classics Series
Pages:	350
Sales rank:	401,581
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

About the Author

Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era.

Crystal S. Chan is an award-winning author and television screen play writer. She holds a degree in language and literature. Crystal is a huge fan of authors such as Jane Austen and she is equally passionate about Sailor Moon. Her passion for classic literature combined with her love of the comics medium allows her to strike a solid balance between preserving the depth of the original content while adapting the language for a younger generation.

Nokman Poon says her greatest passion for drawing comics comes from the globally popular video game Street Fighter. She says she was inspired to become an artist through the art of her beloved fighting game. When she wasn’t playing the game, she would draw her favorite characters in fight scenes in order to quench her thirst of the exciting gameplay. Her years of training in comic of the fighting game genre gives her drawing a touch of firmness and crisp that rivals a male artist. Nokman enjoys sampling cuisine from all over the world. She admits that recently she has become addicted to playing mobile games during her leisure time.

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

Editorial Reviews

11/01/2015
Gr 7 Up—The team responsible for Pride and Prejudice (2014) and The Scarlet Letter (2015, both Udon) present another classic tale in manga form. As in the original, orphaned Pip, raised by his harsh sister and her simple yet kind husband, Joe, encounters hints of the finer things when he is brought to visit with the bitter and twisted Miss Havisham and her ward, the beautiful but imperious Estella. The author and illustrators demonstrate an understanding of Dickens's tale, conveying how Pip's shame at his humble beginnings and his eagerness to make something of himself when a mysterious benefactor comes into his life gives way eventually to his realization of what is truly important in life. Many of the more well-known lines of dialogue are reproduced but made more accessible to a modern audience, such as Miss Havisham's diatribe against love. Readers who are put off by Dickens's dense prose may prefer Poon's beautiful, stylized art. The illustrator translates key scenes, using dynamic angles and dramatic blocking, giving the work an almost cinematic look. Tone, setting, and characters, too, are easily established through the visuals. However, attempting to condense a novel of this length presents a few problems. Some characters are thin and underdeveloped, and there are plot points that feel rushed. Still, on the whole, this offering will go over well with teens. VERDICT An effective adaptation, though not without its flaws; students may wish to read the manga alongside the original.—Mahnaz Dar, School Library Journal

School Library Journal