A Tale of Two Cities

Paperback

Published 2011 by Dave Mckay.

(7 reviews)

"A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens, is part of a computerised reading program devised by journalist/author Dave McKay. The program, which paraphrases classic novels, primarily targets people who are learning English as a second language. It enables older students to quickly read classic novels despite having a very limited reading vocabulary. Each book has a number on the cover, showing how many different English words were used in McKay's translation of the book.

When reading them in the proper order, readers will find that no book includes more than 100 new words (i.e. word not already learned from reading the previous titles). "A Tale of two Cities: uses 1700 different easy English words, and should follow on after completing "Huckleberry Finn", which uses an English vocabulary list of 1600 words.

Other titles include: The King's New Clothes (400 words), Jungle Book (500 words), Robinson Crusoe (700 words), The …

Other titles include: The King's New Clothes (400 words), Jungle Book (500 words), Robinson Crusoe (700 words), The Invisible Man (900 words), Uncle Tom's Cabin (1050 words) Julius Caesar (1200 words), Merchant of Venice (1300 words).

This reading program has been used extensively in Kenya and India.

68 editions

The Gnome King reviewed A tale of two cities by Charles Dickens

Review of 'A tale of two cities' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

This is the second book I've now read of the Penguin Clothbound Classics series and again it is a lovely book, great looking cover with vivid colours and it feels great in your hands. This series is why I prefer paper over electronic when it comes to books.

I've read a couple of Dickens's books before and I enjoyed them, a lot of people found them tough to read, to those people I say read A Tale of Two Cities. Being partly historical fiction and based around real events it becomes much easier to read. The French revolution was an evil time and Dickens doesn't shy away from the details, in fact he seems to enjoy describing the workings of the Guillotine even being quite poetic at times. A smaller cast than usual means you really get to know the characters and even get to have a favourite, Mr Lorry does remind me so much of The White Rabbit, such a little busy body, he is a top guy that you can rely on. The plot is also really tight, you get the feeling that things are going to go a certain way and yet still get a shock when it happens, this book is one of those rare classics that is un-put-downable.

If you're wanting to try a Dickens book then this is a great place to start, my favourite by him although I still have plenty more to read.

Blog review > felcherman.wordpress.com/2019/05/09/a-tale-of-two-cities-by-charles-dickens/