Charles Dickens was born in 1812 near Portsmouth. The Christmas Books was first published in a single volume in 1852, bringing together five stories, which Charles Dickens had written especially for the Christmas season, beginning in 1843 with A Christmas Carol. Over the next three years, Dickens published The Chimes, The Cricket on the Hearth, and The Battle of Life. There was no story in 1847 but a fifth, The Haunted Man, appeared in 1848.
It is no small task to condense one of Dickens's most beloved and frequently retold stories from 400 pages into a mere 88 while maintaining the major plot developments. However, remarkably, this graphic novel version is generally a success. . . . Owing to the minor violence and complexity of Dickens's plot twists, this would be suitable for middle school students who like darker stories; think A Series of Unfortunate Events for older readers. -- Library Journal I highly recommend Campfire's comics. They do what they are intended to do and do it in a way that excites kids about classic literature. -- Chris Wilson, The Graphic Classroom (a resource for teachers and librarians)