A Boy Called Dickens

The illustrations by John Hendrix were the start of this book. Hendrix' art embodies the era of Dickensian England, that portrayed in Dicken's own novels. From the people, both living and ghost, to the streets and the jail, everything about Hendrix' art is a visual delight. Hopkinson's narrative also does not indulge in too many obvious references to Dickens' various works as would have been quite easy to do. Instead, Hopkinson uses Dickens' own brief and somewhat vague autobiographical descriptions of this time in his life to create a story that Dickens himself just may have created.