Oliver Twist

The poor boy's life had the author's desired impact on me. Was life really that bad for children in the past? But in true Dickens style, the happy ending came, and I returned it to the library content. -- Sufiya Ahmed, YA author
It was first ingrained into my mind thanks to a starring role in the school musical. Appetite whetted, I explored the source material and found beyond the ditties I knew were words full of power and illustration, as Dickens intended -- Dillon Khan, YA author
He flings together characters from every walk of life into dazzling, swarming, state-of-the city narratives. In his London the rich cannot escape the poor, and the do-gooders and swindlers quaff ale elbow-to-elbow. The inanimate actors are as vivid as the living: the miserable workhouse that harboured Oliver Twist is no less legendary than the poor, begging boy himself or his criminal chum, the Artful Dodger * Economist *
We sit entranced at Dickens' feet, safe in his stories; and when we come out, we have tools to help us guard against the dark * Daily Telegraph *