Charles Dickens: Scenes from an Extraordinary Life

Starting at the very beginning (“I was born on a Friday, at twelve o’clock at night”), Dickens narrates his own life story in this biography from the team behind What Mr. Darwin Saw. Loosely rendered pencil-and-watercolor scenes with speech-bubble interjections from characters take center stage, while small illustrated sidebars provide additional context as Dickens moves to London, gets his first taste of theater, suffers family tragedies, and embarks on his career as a writer. A bonus: tidy comic strip–style panels provide quick summaries of several Dickens novels, which may whet readers’ appetite to further explore his writing. Ages 6–9. (Dec.)