Dickens rivals Uriah Heep at his —umblest in this mawkish rehearsal of the Christ story. The Victorian master novelist wrote it for his children in the late 1840s, when he was composing David Copperfield, and read it aloud to them every Christmas. His handwritten manuscript was passed down after Dickens’s death in 1870 to his descendants, who also read it at Christmas and, at the author’s request, delayed publication until the last of his children died (which happened in 1933). Though a bestseller at the time, it is way down on the list of rewrites of the life of Jesus that an adult would ever care to read. (One can imagine Dickens’s grown-up sons and daughters suffering through it each Christmas.) Phrased with deliberate artlessness meant to woo children, the text pales in comparison to A Christmas Carol as a piece of holiday storytelling—not a fair comparison, perhaps, but it is fair to note its puzzling lack of any of the strengths Dickens is noted for. Well, that’s not quite true. He decorates the Resurrection with Roman soldiers fainting as the earth trembles and shakes, while an angel, whose “countenance was like lightning,” rolls away the rock sealing the tomb. Piety for mopheads.
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-684-86537-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1999
1883
Pub Date: Dec. 15, 1999
ISBN: 0-8234-1427-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1999
This gathering of retold stories from the Talmud and elsewhere features dazzling watercolor art matched to encounters with the Old Testament figure who has become, as Goldin (While the Candles Burn, 1996, etc.) writes, “a symbol of hope, a figure who stands for what is just and good in the world.” She evokes the worldwide “journey” of the Jewish people by setting her tales in an array of times and places, from modern Israel to Argentina and ancient China; no matter where he puts in an appearance, Elijah offers choices or chancy blessings that, often indirectly, lead the perplexed, misled, or discontented to wisdom. From tiny, jewel-like title decorations to crowd scenes that ripple with movement, Pinkney’s watercolors provide a shimmering backdrop to these reverent, simply told renditions. (bibliography) (Folklore. 8-12)
Pub Date: April 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-15-200445-9
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1999
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