Oliver Twist
Recommended. Age: 14+. A Catholic review of this book for parents.
Our review
Oliver is a poor orphan boy who is starved and beaten in a workhouse. He runs away to London and falls in with a gang of child thieves. Kind people rescue him and believe in him. Oliver stays good even when everyone around him is bad. This is a story about a child who keeps his innocence among thieves, and about grown-ups who fail the poor. Good Books for Catholic Kids speaks of dark times and moments of grace through personal kindness. It is darker than its film versions. A woman is beaten to death, and the villain Fagin is drawn with ugly prejudice against Jews that parents must correct.
For parents
Read aloud from about fourteen, with a parent choosing what to soften. Independent reading from fourteen to sixteen: the Catholic list places it at 14 and up, while Plugged In gives an age range of 16 and up. No Common Sense Media age was retrievable. Know before you hand it over: Plugged In reports children beaten and starved, Oliver shot, Nancy beaten to death by Sikes, a hanging, and implied prostitution. The Wikipedia article discusses antisemitism in the way Fagin is written. Tell your child plainly that contempt for the Jewish people is a sin and is contrary to Catholic teaching. Ask: who is responsible for the hungry boys in the workhouse? Why does Nancy help Oliver, and what does it cost her? She prays for mercy at the end. What do we hope for her? Who treats Oliver as a person? Talk about the works of mercy.