The Muppet Christmas Carol is one of my favourite adaptations of my one of favourite books, and with this illustrated picture book, things have come full circle because the adaptation the novel has itself been novelised – or indeed, picture bookised.
If you know the movie, then it will no doubt be a wonderfully charming and nostalgic experience to see several key moments from the film re-imagined in Luke Flower’s beautiful art style. There are several big scenes in particular, where it’s fun to pause your reading and just take a moment to take in all the scenery and appreciate the small details. Funnily, I think they have intentionally tried to avoid making Scrooge look like Michael Caine, but I don’t think it’s an issue.
As for the writing, it’s what you’d expect of a picture book for very young children. This has been designed to be read to kids by an adult (not that it can’t be enjoyed by adults on their own) and I have to admit that Brooke Vitale did a pretty good job of condensing the whole of A Christmas Carol to something that can be enjoyed within the space of ten minutes.
One minor detail that I found slightly silly was the fact that it did change some pieces of dialogue to avoid directly saying that Tiny Tim died (even though it is very strongly implied). I guess I can kind of understand wanting to keep things light in a book for young children, but I saw the movie as a young child and don’t think it did any harm to see references to Tiny Tim dying. Also, I think most kids are quite inquisitive, so they will probably ask their parents or figure it out.
Nonetheless, that’s a nit-pick, really. I love this book and as a fan of The Muppets, A Christmas Carol, and The Muppets Christmas Carol, I am delighted to have it on my bookshelf.
Rating: 8/10
