A Christmas Carol

Everyman's Children's Classics has more than 50 titles in print. It offers the finest editions currently available of the world's greatest children's books in handsome, full cloth hardcover bindings. 
 
The library brings back into print major illustrators such as Ivan Bilibin, Kate Greenaway, Arthur Rackham, Nicolas Bentley, Walter Crane, Aubrey Beardsley, Edward Ardizzone, W.Heath Robinson and Mervyn Peake.

Charles Dickens (Author) Charles Dickens was born in Hampshire on February 7, 1812. His father was a clerk in the navy pay office, who was well paid but often ended up in financial troubles. When Dickens was twelve years old he was send to work in a shoe polish factory because his family had been taken to the debtors' prison. His career as a writer of fiction started in 1833 when his short stories and essays began to appear in periodicals. The Pickwick Papers, his first commercial success, was published in 1836. The serialisation of Oliver Twist began in 1837. Many other novels followed and The Old Curiosity Shop brought Dickens international fame and he became a celebrity in America as well as Britain. Charles Dickens died on 9 June 1870. He is buried in Westminster Abbey. Arthur Rackham (Illustrator) Arthur Rackham (1867–1939) was an English illustrator, recognised as a leading figure in the Golden Age of British book illustration. Specialising in pen and ink, as well as watercolour, some of his best-known works include his illustrations for Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm.

The most popular of all ghost stories was first published on 17 December 1843, and by Christmas Eve 6, 000 copies had been sold at a published price of five shillings. The story of Scrooge, a miser who becomes a different man when he is presented with visions of past, present and future by Marley's ghost, was an immediate success and has remainded so ever since. It is a book to read on Christmas Eve beside a blazing fire - and the best introduction to Dickens for young readers not quite ready for his longer novels. Arthur Rackham, master of the fantastic, illustrated the story in 1915.

Rebecca Solnit

Arthur Rackham

[Solnit] recasts this familiar story into a tale that is fundamentally about freedom. The decision to use Arthur Rackham’s original cut-paper silhouette illustrations was a brilliant choice. This is, hands down, a wonderful book - one that even the jaded reader will clasp upon completion with a contented sigh

Solnit retells the classic story in a way that liberates each character from the constrictions imposed upon him or her by someone else’s story and confers upon each the dignity of a complete human being with agency and autonomous dreams. Emerging from these simply worded, profound, richly rewarding pages is Solnit the literary artist, Solnit the revolutionary, Solnit the enchanter, Solnit the subtle and endlessly delightful satirist, Solnit the sage

This is a reminder of hope and possibility, of kindness and compassion, and—perhaps most salient—imagination and liberty. Through the imaginations of our childhoods, can we find our true selves liberated in adulthood?

Solnit is, in many ways, our fairy godmother. With the tap of her pen and fervor of her imagination, she has transformed a beloved but morally outdated classic into a powerful narrative of female agency with a moral compass we can all believe in

Cinderella Liberator is a stunning example of how talking lizards, cakes, misguided stepsisters, and even a prince Nevermind can reframe some of our most iconic traditional narratives, and is a beautifully refreshing wind of change in the arid desert of modern-minded children’s stories.

Cinderella Liberator is something I desperately wish I had read when I was a child. While so many narratives impose unhealthy expectations on children or celebrate brute strength over an open heart, Solnit, tells a new story, giving a whole new sense of agency to Cinderella. Like all of her stunning work, she celebrates the authentic self and the willingness to embrace one another, to strive for compassion, and to harness the magic of life. This is a powerful book, not only for children, but also a beautiful reminder for us all that honesty, kindness, and empathy are what will lead us to discover and connect to our true selves, not a fancy crown, not a ‘perfect’ person, and not a "happily ever after”

Sometimes real magic comes from the inside out. Cinderella Liberator stages a break-out from within the walls of old myths and stories that have kept us quiet, pretty, and well behaved, in love with gowns, shoes, and tiaras. In this phenomenal retelling, female strength erupts like quicksilver. What would the world look like if girls grew up reading fairytales made from the magic they carry inside themselves? Breathtakingly beautiful, is what.

Lidia Yuknavich, author, The Book of Joan and The Small Backs of Children

An exquisite little jewel of a book, wise, witty, scathing, and humane

Being a princess is absolutely fine if that’s what you choose. It’s having those choices taken away from you that make for big problems. Cinderella in Solnit’s book is given that choice. She’s allowed to say what her dreams are, and then she goes out and attains them. And they’re not huge ridiculous dreams but small, happy, manageable ones. Ultimately, that’s the gift Ms. Solnit is giving kids with this book.

Rebecca Solnit's reimagining of the Cinderella story is full of joyful transformations

A Fairy Tale Revolution

Rebecca Solnit retells 'Cinderella'. A Fairy Tale Revolution is here to remix and revive our favourite stories. 
 
'She looked like a girl who was evening, and an evening that had become a girl...' 
 
In the kitchen, in her rags, Cinderella, longs to go to the ball. After all, there is nothing worse than not being invited to the party. Enter her fairy godmother... 
 
But that is where the familiar story ends. Cinderella's transformation turns out to be much less about ballgowns, glass slippers and carriages, and much more about finding her truest self. Finally free from the kitchen cinders, who will she turn out to be? 
 
*Recommended for ages 6 and up*

Arthur Rackham

Praise for Cinderella Liberator

[Solnit] recasts this familiar story into a tale that is fundamentally about freedom. The decision to use Arthur Rackham’s original cut-paper silhouette illustrations was a brilliant choice. This is, hands down, a w ...

Solnit retells the classic story in a way that liberates each character from the constrictions imposed upon him or her by someone else’s story and confers upon each the dignity of a complete human being with agency ...

This is a reminder of hope and possibility, of kindness and compassion, and—perhaps most salient—imagination and liberty. Through the imaginations of our childhoods, can we find our true selves liberated in adulthoo ...

[Solnit] recasts this familiar story into a tale that is fundamentally about freedom. The decision to use Arthur Rackham’s original cut-paper silhouette illustrations was a brilliant choice. This is, hands down, a w ...

Solnit retells the classic story in a way that liberates each character from the constrictions imposed upon him or her by someone else’s story and confers upon each the dignity of a complete human being with agency ...

This is a reminder of hope and possibility, of kindness and compassion, and—perhaps most salient—imagination and liberty. Through the imaginations of our childhoods, can we find our true selves liberated in adulthoo ...

[Solnit] recasts this familiar story into a tale that is fundamentally about freedom. The decision to use Arthur Rackham’s original cut-paper silhouette illustrations was a brilliant choice. This is, hands down, a w ...

Solnit retells the classic story in a way that liberates each character from the constrictions imposed upon him or her by someone else’s story and confers upon each the dignity of a complete human being with agency ...

This is a reminder of hope and possibility, of kindness and compassion, and—perhaps most salient—imagination and liberty. Through the imaginations of our childhoods, can we find our true selves liberated in adulthoo ...

Books by Arthur Rackham

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