Charles Dickens Scenes from an Extraordinary Life

by Manning, Mick; Granstrom, Brita

• ISBN13: 9781847805003
• ISBN10: 1847805000
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2014-07-29
• Publisher: Frances Lincoln Children's Books

Summary

Inspired by Charles Dickens’ own words, Mick and Brita Granstrom bring this extraordinary genius to life, revealing Dickens' childhood working in a London boot polish factory and living near the docks in Chatham, and charting his meteoric rise to fame as a young novelist. Follow him as he climbs a volcano, goes on tour to the U.S., presides at a family Christmas, and gives a thrilling public reading. And discover the stories of ten of Dickens' most famous novels, dramatized for younger readers with captions and graphic-novel comic-strips. Key incidents that inspired the later novels are described, including his marriage and family life. What emerges is a touching portrait of a writer with amazing observational skills, a social conscience, and a strong sense of drama.

Author Biography

Mick Manning grew up in Haworth, West Yorkshire and studied Illustration at the Royal College of Art in London. He has written and illustrated over 60 books, mostly with his partner Brita Granström.Their distinctive books have won many awards. Their first book, The World is Full of Babies, won the Smarties Silver Prize in 1996. Mick and Brita live in the Scottish Borders and have 4 sons. Their other books with Frances Lincoln include the critically acclaimed Fly on the Wall series: Roman Fort, Pharaoh's Egypt, Viking Longship, Greek Hero, Tail-End Charlie and What Mr Darwin Saw. Both Roman Fort and Viking Longship were shortlisted for the English Association 4-11 Awards and Greek Hero won in 2008. Snap! is the follow-up to Yuck! which was a regional winner of the Highland Book Awards 2006. Recently Mick and Brita donated the entire body of work created for their book Fly on the Wall: Greek Heroto Seven Stories, the centre for children's books

Brita Granstrom grew up on a Swedish farm and has an MFA in Fine Art from Konstfack, Stockholm. She and Mick Manning live in the Scottish Borders have four sons. Their first book together, The World is Full of Babies won the Smarties Silver Award in 1996 and their second book, What's Under the Bed? took the TES Junior Information Book Award in 1997. Yum Yum and How Did I Begin? were 2 of the 6 children's books shortlisted for the Rhone Poulene Prize in 1998. Science School made the shortlist in the following year. In 2000, Wash, Scrub, Brush! won the English Association's non-fiction award for the best picture book, with Let's Party making the shortlist in 2001. Brita won both Parenting Magazine's Book of the Year and the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Award 2000 with her illustrations for Judy Hindley's Eyes, Nose, Fingers, Toes.