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England's Best Writer

Published on April 6, 2009 at 10:35 PM

This Article was published in Book Reports-Reviews Articles

"Procrastination is the thief of time, collar him." David Copperfield
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." A Tale of Two Cities
"In a word, I was too cowardly to do what I knew to be right, as I had been too cowardly to avoid doing what I knew to be wrong." Great Expectations

If you love literature, you will know who those titles belong to: Charles Dickens. Charles Dickens is one of my absolute favorite authors! His works deal with real life and give encouragement to the reader! I remember the first work of Dickens I read: Great Expectations. While I was still young and may not have understood everything about the story, I loved reading the story of Pip and how he helped a man, who helped him when he grew up! Reminds of me of this scripture:

Hebrews 13:2
Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

I know Pip didn't think that helping the convict would help him in any way, but it did. :)
After I read Great Expectations, I tried to read A Tale of Two Cities, but it was very confusing to my 14 year old brain, so I didn't read it.
Fast forward to when I was 17, and you will find David Copperfield in my hands! I love David Copperfield! That 735 page book was a wonderful read to open my eyes to many things! I am so glad I read it! David Copperfield and Great Expectations are only two of Dickens' many wonderful works! He has many written works that are favorites of people everywhere! His works include:

Fiction
A Christmas Carol
A Tale Of Two Cities
Barnaby Rudge
Bleak House
David Copperfield
Dombey And Son
Great Expectations
Hard Times
Lazy Tour Of Two Idle Apprentices
Little Dorrit
Martin Chuzzlewit
Master Humphrey's Clock
Nicholas Nickleby
No Thoroughfare
Oliver Twist
Our Mutual Friend
The Battle Of Life
The Chimes
The Cricket On The Hearth
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
The Old Curiosity Shop
The Pickwick Papers Non-Fiction
A Child's History of England
American Notes
Pictures From Italy
Speeches: Literary and Social Short Stories
A Christmas Tree
A Message From The Sea
Doctor Marigold
George Silverman's Explanation
Going Into Society
Holiday Romance
Hunted Down
Mrs. Lirriper's Legacy
Mrs. Lirriper's Lodgings
Mugby Junction
Perils of Certain English Prisoners
Somebody's Luggage
Sunday Under Three HeadsThe Child's Story
The Haunted House
The Haunted Man And The Ghost's Bargain
The Holly-Tree
The Lamplighter
The Poor Relation's Story
The Schoolboy's Story
The Seven Poor Travellers
The Signal-Man
The Trial For Murder
Tom Tiddler's Ground
What Christmas Is As We Grow Older
Wreck Of The Golden Mary

February 7th celebrates the 197th birthday of Charles Dickens. Dickens, whose pen name was Boz, is said to be the most popular English novelist of the Victorian Era. Dickens was the second oldest of eight children and moved quite a bit when he was younger. He had a particular fondness for Tobias Smollett and Henry Fielding novels. When he was 12 his father was arrested and put in jail, so Dickens wasn't able to continue attending William Giles' school.
He worked at Warren's Blacking Warehouse 10 hours a day pasting labels on jars of shoe polish and by doing so earned six shillings a week.
After a few months, Dickens father was released from prison and moved his family. Dickens was able to attend the Wellington House Academy in London, but his mother still made him continue to work at the Blacking House. He was very resentful of his situations and conditions of his life.
When he was 15, he began working in the law office of Ellis and Blackmore, as a clerk. Even though it was a junior position, he was an articled clerk and would eventually qualify for admission to the Bar. It was during this time that he learned his detailed knowledge of legal processes. This knowledge helped him write works such as Nicholas Nickleby, Dombey and Son, and particularly Bleak House.
When he was 17, he became a court stenographer and in 1830, he met his first love, Maria Beadnell. It is thought that she was the model for his character Dora in David Copperfield. David Copperfield is said to be Dickens autobiography. Maria's parents didn't approve of the courtship and ended the relationship by sending her to school in Paris.
By 1834, Dickens was a political journalist who reported on parliamentary debate and was traveling across Britain to cover election campaigns for The Morning Chronicle. His journalism, which were sketches appeared in periodicals from 1833, formed his collection: Sketches by Boz which he published in 1836 and it led to the publication of his first novel, The Pickwick Papers.

April 2nd, 1836, Dickens married Catherine Hogarth, who was the daughter of the

Evening Chronicle Editor. They set up their home in Bloomsbury and had ten children. Catherine's sister, Mary, lived with the Dickens for a while to help them. Dickens became attached to Mary who died in his arms after being ill in 1837. She was characterized in his books also and was the basis for Little Nell.
Dickens became the editor for Bentley's Miscellany until three years later he fell out with the own, but at the same time his success as an author continued. He wrote and published Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby, The Old Curiosity Shope and Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of 'Eighty as part of the Master Humphrey's Clock series.
Dickens also made two trips to North America with Catherine and met with President John Tyler, went to New York City to geve lectures and raise support for copyright laws and abolition of slavery. This trip was put into his Martin Chuzzlewit work.
Dickens lived abroad in many places and during that time wrote his works. Dickens took people from his life and characterized them in all his novels.
In June 1865, Dickens was involved in the Staplehurst Rail crash and he spent some time tending the wounded and dying before the rescue workers arrived. Though he was unharmed in the crash, he never recovered from it and his writing diminished. He instead took up reading his favorite novels, attending plays and traveling.
He had a mild stroke in 1869 and began on The Mystery of Edwin Drood. He had another stroke later in the year after working on Edwin Drood all day and on five years to the day of the

Staplehurst crash, Charles Dickens died in his home and was mourned by all his readers!
Against his wish to be buried in Rochester Catherdal, he was buried in the Poets' Corner of Westminister Abbey. His tomb inscription says: "He was a sympthiser to the poor, the suffering, and the oppressed; and by his death, one of England's greatest writers is lost to the world." While Dicken's will made sure that no memorial be erected for him, there is a life size bronze statue of him in Clark Park in the Spruce Hills of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Dickens made a huge impact on society and is loved by many! I know I have really enjoyed reading his works!

I have read Great Expectations and David Copperfield all the way through, I have tried to read Bleak House, A Tale Of Two Cities, Oliver Twist, and A Christmas Tale. I am currently reading Martin Chuzzlewit and I have Bleak House, A Tale Of Two Cities, Our Mutual Friend and Nicholas Nickleby on my book list to read this year! Have you read any of Dickens works? What was your favorite? He was truly England's Best Writer!

©AmandaDixon2009

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The Homeschooler's Book of Lists Resource Book Review

Published on November 26, 2007 at 7:35 PM

This Article was published in Book Reports-Reviews Articles

    Don't you just love it when you find a treasure chest of knowledge?? I know I do. I recently found a wonderful resource book that has just about everything in it.
    It is "The Homeschooler's Book of Lists” by Sonya Haskins. It has more than 250 lists, charts, and facts to make planning easier and faster listed in the book itself, but this book also comes with a cd that has reproducible masters of more than 250 lists and charts available for you to use and print off.
    Mom got this book a couple weeks ago and when she first got it, I took a little peak. I was so overwhelmed with all the info that was in it; I had to put it down and I decided I would look at it later so I could devour it when I had time. Boy, I am so glad I did. I finally had the chance to take another look at it yesterday and I am just thrilled that we now own this book.
    This book has so much information in it on a wide range of topics, I don't know if I will ever be able to get through the whole thing.
    It has so many different subjects that is tells so much about. The style it is in is very neat and easy to read. Very crisp and clean. The way she lists the information is very neat. It is like a chart.     I think the way Mrs. Haskins lists the information is very fun to read. Everyone of any age will more than likely find this book interesting and won’t want to put it down.
The chapters are:

History & Government
Language Arts
Mathematics
Religion
Science
Animals
The Human Body
Geography
Foreign Language
Great People
Quotations, Speeches and Other Documents
Computers
Art and Music
Curriculum and Homeschool Methodologies
Organizational and Reference Lists for Teachers, Parents, and Students

    I really like all of them. I can't really say which is my favorite category. They are so full of so much. Each category goes in depth with each topic is it talking about. I mean, it’s not you piddly little 50-page resource. It is 556 pages of great info that will help you in your homeschool.
    My type of learning is I like to learn it myself by myself, so just sitting and reading this and taking notes is great for me. I really enjoyed just sitting and going through it.
    From reading it I think it would be a neat idea to read it to your students and then quiz them from it. It is that good!!
    In just the History and Government chapter alone, some of the things it lists is:
Important Dates in History, which lists dates starting in 3000 bc and goes through to 1901.
Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, Modern Wonders and Natural Wonders.
Pharaohs, Rulers of England and France and Germany.
    It also talks alot about American government too. Things like: Government Branches, Important Dates in the American Revolution, Battles of the American Revolution, Steps to Creating Bills and Laws, and much more. It also lists the Founding Fathers and what state they were from. It also has Presidential Election Results.
    The chapters of each subject are very much like this. They have a ton of different things that make learning fun and easy. They really go in-depth, but not too much that it overwhelms you. This resource/study book that will enhance your homeschool because it goes through a handful of different subjects and expounds on them. I learned alot already from it. For instance, I am as old as the world wide web. haha I thought that was neat. I also learned that Mom is as old as the cell phone.
    I would like to own this book just for my own enjoyment. It is really neat to be able to learn all this stuff. I really like it that it goes into depth about alot of the things. I love reading informational type stuff and this is just my kind of book.
    There is so much I can tell you about this book, but it would take forever. So you just need to get it.
Some other great resource books are:

Educating The Wholehearted Child by Clay and Sally Clarkson
What Your Child Needs To Know When: According to the Bible and to the State by Robin Sampson

Anyway, this is a really awesome and neat book that will really be a great book to have for your homeschool. Don’t be surprised if your children just pick it up and start reading it.
If you would like to know more about Mrs. Haskins and her book, please visit her website. She also has a blog here on hsb called The Homemaker's Cottage. Please click on the the title of the book above for a more descriptive review of the book on Mrs. Haskins website.
I really loved this book. I would highly recommend this book for everyone. You will really enjoy it and enhance your knowledge.
As Always,

Thanks for stopping by "Daily" at the "Planet"!!
©AmandaDixon2007

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November 26, 2007 at 7:40 PM...Untitled Comment

Commented by totustuus

That sounds like a really good, practical book!! Thanks for posting about it.

BTW, the SAYR is getting ready to read The Magician's Nephew. I don't know if you'll be joining, but if you don't mine linking us...?? lol. That would be awesome.

The Hedge of Thorns is still on its way. I'm sure when I get it, I'll quickly catch up to you guys, though. ;-)