A Christmas Carol

by Benjamin Harper

Ebenezer Scrooge has always hated Christmas, but this particular Eve he's given a new reason: the ghost of Jacob Marley has come to visit! Clad in heavy chains and weights, Marley's ghost warns Scrooge that three spirits will visit him over the next three nights, each with a ghastly story to share. Will Scrooge's ghoulish experience teach him to embrace the spirit of Christmas, or will he say "bah humbug" to the holidays for the last time?

Genres: Graphic Novels, Christmas, Classics, Fantasy, Graphic Novels Comics, Paranormal, Middle Grade

72 pages, Hardcover

Published September 10, 2015

Reviews

[Abigail Mohn]

A cute adaptation for kids of one of my favorite books of all time! I loved the illustrations, and I can see myself reading this over and over again as a kid. But because I know this book so well, I noticed every little inaccuracy, which didn’t take too much away but probably could have been noticed by someone. Overall though, it was a fun, short Christmas Eve read!

[Nicky]

I read a Christmas Carol a few years ago, so this was a nice little adaptation for a quick re-read

[Kristen Post]

In pages 35 and 55 the speech bubbles lead to the wrong speakers. However, the illustrator and author did a good job overall adapting a classic novel to the graphic novel format, and I intend to promote this version among my students.

[James Crawford]

This is a graphic novel version of A Christmas Carol. There are five chapters, a section on retelling the story and the illustrator, a glossary and two sections on common core things.

The story is the standard one. The artwork is pretty good, especially Marley and Scrooge. One of the major things about the novel and the story is how they show just how poor many of the people were at that time. The poor house/workplace was not a good place to go to put it mildly.

A good version of the story.

[Jeanne]

Well, being a total "A Christmas Carol" fanatic, I needed to read this version. It is fine, except for when the wrong character says a line. But I much prefer Dickens' own way of doing Dickens. If this is the ONLY way to get someone to read this classic, I have to support it. But come on, read the ACTUAL CLASSIC, too!

[Graham Connors]

This was bought for my 9 year old niece as a Christmas present. I gave it a quick read before wrapping it. The artwork is great, but the narrative is too condensed, in my opinion. It could have benefitted from another 20 or 30 pages.

Would I recommend this book? Yes, it's a great entry point into Dickens's Christmas classic!

[Scott]

A good, short adaptation of the original. Good illustrations too.

[Annie]

For all the A Christmas Carols that I read for my Books and Brews(read the original and/or retellings) this was my favorite retelling.

[Holly]

4.5 stars

[Lea]

I really enjoyed this one!

[Beth]

Christmas tradition

[Maci D]

This is a decent little graphic novel adaptation. Nothing overly special. But fun to refresh on the classic tale.

[Tiffany]

This is a fun middle grades re-telling of A Christmas Carol.

[Dan DiGregorio]

A nice graphic adaptation of a classic novel. It’s a quick read also.

[Paula Greenfield]

This retelling of Dickens classic is wonderful.

[Patrick J. Baier]

Starting point

These are outstanding points for beginners.
It will ease the student into reading. I like this graphic novels, the color of graphics.

[Nikki in Niagara]

As usual with this series from Capstone, we have a fine adaptation of the original, especially for kids. At less than 70 pgs, plot elements are going to be culled here and there, however, I find Harper has done a good job of not only representing the original but deciding to shine a particular light on the theme of charity in his adaptation. The Marley sequence is good and told in detail, some graphics skimp on this part to tone down the scare but not Harper & Almara. As the three ghosts come visiting not every episode from the original book is given equal importance, but I felt here they took artistic licence to first shine on Scrooge's uncharitable nature and second show how he learns that the gift of charity brings self-happiness. Very well done! One thing I particularly enjoyed was the Ghost of Christmas Past was depicted as a little candle man with his face a flame of fire and a hat that would snuff out his light when Scrooge could no longer handle the light being shone on his past deeds. Nice introduction to the classic, conversely a fun new look at it in graphic format. You usually can't go wrong with Capstone's Graphic Resolve series.

[F]

Let it be known that I love "A Christmas Carol." I have seen many of the films and television adaptations and read it several times and in several versions. This version will not go down as one of my favorites. There are the main characters and events to be sure but there is confusion in the Cratchit household as Bob delivers both his lines, and his wife's opposing view, in a nonsensical panel or two.
Most of the artwork is fine although Tim looks like a hobbit or a troll of some sort and borders on manga [which I detest] at times. Worth a read but I wouldn't want to pay for it [thank you kindle unlimited].

[Karen]

My third-grader is obsessed with Dickens' A Christmas Carol -- he is writing his own version this very minute -- so he was delighted when he found this graphic novel edition of the story. I'm not entirely on the graphic novel bandwagon, but I do have to admit this book was very well done.

[Chlo]

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