Illustrated Classics: Children's Stories from Dickens

Recently I had to spend a couple of months camping with my 8 year old daughter away from home and mom. We enjoyed reading and even rereading some of the stories from this book containing Ten children from ten different Dickens tales -- including Tiny Tim, David Copperfield, and Oliver Twist. They are featured in a generously illustrated colorful compendium. While the depictions of the children's lives are true to the originals, abridgement may infact encourage the young reader to read the original when they grow up. My daughter could empathise with homeless,motherless Dickensian kids, however she could not understand what is the big deal about Oliver asking for more if he is still hungry ! This tells us how far we have come in terms of feeding our kids well (if not good homes and both parents) since Dickens, at least in the developed countries. In one sentence this book was a nice trailer to the poignant prose of Dickens to be read aloud as well as read by curious children themselves.