Read this when
A Christmas Carol
Bitterness usually starts with a lonely kid somewhere. Scrooge had to see him again to change. 🕯️ 'Bah! Humbug!' era over.
Who it's for
Scrooge's journey works as a guided life review: he revisits the lonely boy he was, the kindness he received from Fezziwig, and the moment he chose money over Belle.
Feelings it meets
What it is
Charles Dickens's 1843 novella, illustrated by John Leech, follows Ebenezer Scrooge, a miserly businessman who scorns Christmas. On Christmas Eve, the ghost of his former partner Jacob Marley warns him that three spirits will visit. The Ghost of Christmas Past shows him his lonely boyhood at school, his kind employer Fezziwig, and the engagement to Belle he lost through greed.
Where to find it
Public domain in the US; free on Project Gutenberg and Standard Ebooks, with free LibriVox audiobooks. Also widely in print (Penguin Classics, Oxford World's Classics and others), in libraries (Libby/.
Before you start
Heads up: A disabled child's possible death.
Age: Ages 9+
Begin the morning by saying to thyself, I shall meet with the busybody, the ungrateful, arrogant, deceitful, envious, unsocial.Marcus Aurelius, The Thoughts of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, Book 2 (tr. George Long)
