A Christmas Book Recommendation
Here’s why our recommended Christmas book this year is A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens. There are so many reasons to read this brilliant classic! Here are our top 8 reasons:
1. It’s a Christmas ghost story.
That’s right! It’s an unusual Christmas story which has lots of ghosts! They all come to visit the main character, Scrooge, to teach him a lesson about what Christmas should be all about.
2. It’s where the phrase ‘Bah! Humbug!’ comes from.
Have you ever heard someone saying this? It’s used when someone doesn’t seem to be in the happy Christmas spirit. It’s Scrooge’s catchphrase – he’s a grumpy and greedy old man who doesn’t like the joy or kindness of Christmas one bit.
3. You’ll meet some very well-known characters.
Some of the most recognisable characters in literature can be found in this book: mean old Scrooge, lovely little Tiny Tim, St Nicholas (or at least a relative of his) and even the Grim Reaper himself!
4. It even has some time travel.
We tend to think of time travel as a futuristic concept from the world of sci-fi, but believe it or not, this classic book includes some! The ghosts come to take Scrooge back in time to remind him of his childhood… and to the future to show him what could happen if he doesn’t change his ways!
5. It’s funny.
The narrator of the story is very funny. He can’t seem to help but make comments about the characters as he tells us about them.
6. The grumpy main character is taught a lesson.
The best thing about the story is that the grumpy main character gets taught a lesson by the end! We get to watch him learn important lessons about himself and change himself for the better!
7. You learn a lot about what Christmas was like 200 years ago.
The story is set around 200 years ago in Victorian London – so we get to find out what Christmas was like back then. Can you imagine it without electricity, without the internet, without television?
8. You’ll have read a classic by Charles Dickens – one of the greatest English writers of the past few hundred years.
Hopefully you’ve heard of Dickens. He’s written some very well-known classics such as Great Expectations and Oliver Twist. A Christmas Carol is a great book to get introduced to Dickens as it’s one of his shorter stories.
