You know from my previous books that I often write about young people who have experienced significant challenges in history. All of them have been resilient and resourceful, and have found ways to use their misfortunes to help others.
My newest book continues that theme, but for the first time, I’m writing about someone who became famous. I am pleased to be introducing Charles Dickens and the Street Children of London, my seventh nonfiction book for young readers.
Until I lived in London for a few months and studied Dickens, I had not realized that he had an ulterior motive at work in many of his novels: he wanted to inspire the upper classes to work for social changes to help the poor. His special interest was impoverished children, for he had once been one of them. So, for example, Oliver Twist focused the spotlight on dire conditions in the workhouses and slums, while Nicholas Nickleby exposed the brutalities of the Yorkshire boarding schools- and so forth.
My book takes you into the life of Dickens as he does battle with his pen on behalf of the poor. In the process, you will watch him become one of the greatest social reformers of his or any age. I hope you will enjoy it.
Andrea Warren
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