Book Review: A Tale of Two Cities, YA edition

A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens (FEARON, Enriched Classics Edition abridged and adapted by Andrea Clare, 1973, 92 pp, grades 8-12, ages 13-17)

Dickens, Again? Yes!

When is the last time you read Dickens? Perhaps in high-school? Then it's about time you read him again, starting with the well-known A Tale of Two Cities. You can pick up a used copy at any second hand bookstore like I did.

I picked up the easy-reader version - for young adults, teens. But I remember reading the adult version in my high-school English class.

I think we all know the story or at least some of it. Perhaps the first lines and the final lines: "It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. "And "It is a far far better thing that I do than I have ever done."

We all know some of the characters: Miss Guillotine, for example. And we recall snippets - 18 years in prison, a woman knitting in code the names of some guys, etc.

The quick-read version I read could be hard to follow if you don't recall much, for there are so many characters and so many twists and turns. I believe adults want more detail in order to follow the plot but middle-school kids will have no problem.

Challenge

And for those of you adults who want to read the original, there are plenty. In one page on the internet, I counted 29 versions and that was only the first page of 50! There are even Cliff's Notes to help you.