"This is the perfect book for the Holiday season." — Miss Remmers
From Amazon.com...
"Celebrate the season with Scrooge, Bob Cratchit, Tiny Tim, Jacob Marley, and the Spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Future—and discover how the greatest Christmas classic was based on the greastest story ever told.
This special edition includes the complete text of A Christmas Carol along with notes and discussion questions written from a Christian perspective."
This book was a wonderful read. While I have seen several different film adaptations of "A Christmas Carol," I had not read the book. I won't lie, I was a bit intimidated by the thought of this book. I mean, everyone's heard of it and Charles Dickens himself is an intimidating figure in literature.
Because of this, I particularly appreciated the annotations that explained the biblical allusions, Dickens faith, and the Christian themes throughout the novel. The discussion questions were also extremely helpful in understanding the depth to the novel. Should I ever use this book in a classroom (which will, undoubtedly, happen), the discussion questions (particularly A and B) will come in extremely handy as essay/reflection assignments.
As for the story itself, it was as beautiful as one would expect. Not nearly as "scary" as I had previously thought, the story was beautifully written and is the perfect book for the Holiday season.
I especially loved the quotes in the discussion section of the book:
"'Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves'" (30).
"What is good for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?" (31).
"God bless us, Every One!" (120).
"Let's have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found" (121).
Big thanks to Julie from FSB Associates for sending me a review copy of this wonderful Christmas story.