Click the image to see this book on Amazon (affiliate link)
Dickens: The Funny Bits
(Hornby & Cruickshank, Bodleian, £16.99)
Here are two versions of the same review: the one I submitted to Teach Secondary magazine, and the edited one they published.
The published version
As most people will know, a great many of Dickens’ imaginative characters have entered the popular imagination – from Oliver Twist, to Mr Micawber and, of course, Scrooge. But how many have read the original works from whence those characters came? This book provides a potentially helpful way in.
In line with the English Programme of Study’s requirement that students be encouraged to choose and read books independently for challenge, interest and enjoyment, this compendium pulls together some of Dickens’ more humorous passages, in a way that may well compel students to seek out the original works.
If nothing else, these extracts are still worth reading in their own right, as some remain consistently funny, even well over a century after they were written.
The submitted version
I should think that many people know about some of Dickens’ characters because they have somehow entered the popular imagination: Oliver Twist, the boy who asked for more; Mr Micawber, forever waiting for something to turn up; and, of course, Scrooge. But how many people have actually read the works in which such characters are found? Some of Dickens’ prose is quite difficult and, therefore, off-putting to students. This book provides a potential way in, so to speak. We want to be able to satisfy the English Programme of Study’s requirement of encouraging students to choose and read books independently for challenge, interest and enjoyment. ‘Dickens’ could help by introducing students to some of the humorous passages, in the hope that students will be minded to read the original works. If nothing else, these extracts are worth reading in their own right, because they are still funny even a century after they were written.