Common Sense Media Review
By Barbara Schultz
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Scrooge learns compassion in granddaddy of Christmas tales.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 9+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
What's the Story?
In A CHRISTMAS CAROL, stingy and mean businessman Ebenezer Scrooge cares only about money. He's unkind to his clerk, Bob Cratchit, and he has no patience for his warm, generous nephew, Fred. He coldly rebuffs two charity workers who want him to donate money to help care for the destitute at Christmas. At home after work, Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his former business partner, Jacob Marley, who tells Scrooge to expect visits from three more ghosts: the spirits of Christmas Past, Christmas Present, and Christmas Yet to Come. The spirits force Scrooge to reckon with his past mistakes, the suffering he causes every day, and the future he can expect if he does not change his ways.
Is It Any Good?
Dickens' classic novella is a cultural touchstone that's not to be missed at the holidays. It's got many of the best Dickensian qualities: dark London streets, needy children, a family that is poor in material things but rich in love, estranged family members, the triumph of good over evil, plus Christmas and ghosts. It's a marvelous story with a moral lesson -- that if we give what we can, we can make a difference -- that never gets old. Because this novella is so much shorter than Dickens' famously long novels, it makes a great (and familiar) introduction to his work.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the children who are called Ignorance and Want in A Christmas Carol. What does Scrooge learn from facing them? What did you learn?
Have you seen any movies of the Christmas Carol story? How were they different from the book?
A Christmas Carol is still beloved more than 150 years after it was first published. What makes it a seasonal favorite still, after all these years?
Book Details
- Author :
- Genre : Holiday
- Topics : Family Stories ( Siblings ) , Friendship , History , Holidays , Fantasy
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : Holiday House
- Publication date : December 1, 1843
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 8 - 18
- Number of pages : 118
- Available on : Paperback, Nook, Audiobook (unabridged), Audiobook (abridged), Hardback, Apple Books, Kindle
- Last updated : October 1, 2025
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