About Dear Mr. Dickens

The true story of a brave young woman who wrote to Charles Dickens, asking him to do right by the Jewish people…

Launched Oct. 1, 2021, illustrated by Bethany Stancliffe, published by Albert Whitman & Company

In Eliza Davis's day, Charles Dickens was the most celebrated living writer in England. But some of his books reflected a prejudice that was all too common at the time: prejudice against Jewish people. Eliza was Jewish, and her heart hurt to see a Jewish character in Oliver Twist portrayed as ugly and selfish. She wanted to speak out about how unfair that was, even if it meant speaking out against the great man himself. So she wrote a letter to Charles Dickens. What happened next is history.

Dear Mr. Dickens is the winner of the National Jewish Book Award, a Sydney Taylor Honor, 1st place in that National Federation of Press Women Nonfiction Picture Book Award, 1st place in the Texas Press Women Nonfiction Picture Book Award, a Junior Library Guild selection, a Bank Street Best Books Award, a Best Jewish Children’s Books from Tablet Magazine, Chicago Public Library Best Informational Books for Younger Readers, with a starred review from School Library Journal, and a featured book on the Jewish Book Council Author Tour. Dear Mr. Dickens is available in English in hardcover, in paperback starting Sept. 7, 2023 and in Braille through the National Braille Press.

Loved talking with Lucinda Hawksley, the great great great granddaughter of Charles Dickens about Dear Mr. Dickens and what we can all do to fight antisemitism. On her wonderful Goldster program with Lucinda in London.

Talking to Van on The Van Show about Dear Mr. Dickens and my writing journey! Van is everyone’s favorite blue monster at the Austin Public Library. We talked at the Texas Library Association conference in Austin.

An on-site class on DEAR MR. DICKENS is now available at the Charles Dickens Museum , teaching and empowering kids to stand up against discrimination, with a virtual program coming soon. Check it out! https://dickensmuseum.com/blogs/learning-key-stage-two/dear-mr-dickens

A wonderful review of Dear Mr. Dickens from fabulous, award-winning author Kirsten W. Larson!

Loving my Dear Mr. Dickens Jewish Book Council Author tour!

Loved being interviewed by Joshua Holo for the Hebrew Union College podcast! Posted July 5, 2022

Honored to be interviewed by Art the Bookworm for his Bookshelf Odyssey Podcast!

Thank you, Jason DeHart, Assistant Professor at Appalachian State University for the lovely interview about Dear Mr. Dickens! Read the interview here.

“And Dear Mr. Dickens (Albert Whitman & Company, ages 6-9), written by Nancy Churnin and illustrated by Bethany Stancliffe, won the 2021 National Jewish Book Award in the children’s picture-book category. While not quite a biography, it is nonetheless anchored in a true episode from Victorian England, recounting Jewish reader Eliza Davis’s polite, persistent efforts to point out to famous author Charles Dickens the toxic antisemitic tropes embedded in his celebrated Oliver Twist. Davis’s ultimate success—not to mention her sustained good rapport with Dickens—models both civil, effective advocacy and Jewish pride.”—Erika Dreifus, New Jewish Kidlit: Beyond the Holocaust and Holidays, Moment Magazine, July 6, 2022

Read the full article here.

June 28: Presenting Dear Mr. Dickens on a Sydney Taylor Honor panel at the Association of Jewish Libraries annual conference

July 10: Delivering keynote about Dear Mr. Dickens for the Nonfiction Kidlit Confab hosted by The Writing Barn

July 13-14: Presenting at NewCAJE: Re-Imagining Jewish Education for the 21st Century

Loved presenting Dear Mr. Dickens at JCC Dallas July 17 at the Margot Rosenberg Pulitzer, Dallas Jewish BookFest.

An article in the Texas Jewish Post about my Dear Mr. Dickens presentation kicking off a new junior Dallas Jewish Bookfest program for kids. Read it here.

WINNER OF THE 2021 NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARD, the 2022 SYDNEY TAYLOR HONOR AWARD and a 2022 First Place winner in Children’s Book, Nonfiction from the National Federation of Press Women! STARRED REVIEW from School Library Journal! A Junior Library Guild selection. Best Jewish Children’s Books from Tablet Magazine. Chicago Public Library Best Informational Books for Younger Readers. Winner: 1st place for Best Children’s Books from the Press Women of Texas, Bank Street School of Education Best Books for Children in History Category

Had a blast at the National Jewish Book Award virtual celebration Wednesday, April 6, 2022.

Honored by the judges’ statement at the National Jewish Book Awards, online here:

"A charm­ing, civ­i­lized pic­ture book star­tles read­ers with a nasty sub­ject deliv­ered with­out sug­ar coat­ing. This rare sto­ry of an ordi­nary moth­er con­fronting a world famous author about his bla­tant anti­semitism is stun­ning. Eliza Davis, a British wife and moth­er, is upset by Charles Dickens’s descrip­tion of Fagin in his best sell­er Oliv­er Twist, in which the author refers to Fagin not by name, but only by ​“Jew,” sug­gest­ing that all Jews are crim­i­nals. How can she right this wrong? She pens a let­ter to Dick­ens explain­ing her dis­tress; he responds by refut­ing her argu­ments. She writes again. His response is a new book about a kind­ly Jew; he edits Oliv­er Twist to refer to Fagin by name, not reli­gion. She thanks him for his essays prais­ing Jew­ish friends and decry­ing prej­u­dice against them. A gen­tle­woman pre­vails in her per­sis­tence to stop a wrong. Dick­ens atones. Read­ers right­ful­ly afraid of anti­semitism will observe it peace­ful­ly and respect­ful­ly resist­ed. Love­ly fam­i­ly-cen­tered illus­tra­tions sup­port the text, which quotes direct­ly from their nine­teenth cen­tu­ry cor­re­spon­dence to con­front a prob­lem still potent today."

An amazing time at the Association of Jewish Libraries, receiving the Sydney Taylor Honor Book award for Dear Mr. Dickens at the Weitzman Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia!

Talking with Emily Schneider of The Jewish Book Council about my journey with Dear Mr. Dickens here.

Featured in the School Library Journal list of 29 books that Celebrate All Aspects of Jewish Life, posted in honor of Jewish American Heritage Month. Note the stars showing that both DEAR MR. DICKENS and A QUEEN TO THE RESCUE received starred reviews from School Library Journal! Read the full article here.

Listen to award-winning actress Miriam Margolyes read from Dear Mr Dickens as part of an educational program you can book from The Charles Dickens Museum in London! To book your own virtual education program with the museum, click here.

The Jewish Chronicle in London, the newspaper Eliza Davis read, writes about the educational program that The Charles Dickens Museum created around Dear Mr. Dickens here.

Angela Kiverstein of The Jewish Chronicle in London reviews it here, too!

Book and learn more about the virtual school program with The Charles Dickens Museum in London here.

I learned a lot from this book I didn't know…not just from the story itself, but also from the comprehensive Author's Note at the back. This children's book is the fullest and best account of the incident I've ever seen, enhanced by Bethany Stancliffe's lively and touching illustrations, and I recommend it highly.”—Gina Dalfonzo, DickensBlog Read the full review here.

Talking to Heidi Frankel, publisher of fyi50plus about winning the National Jewish Book Award. Watch for a special appearance by Mrs. Dog!

Winner of the Sydney Taylor Honor Award! Administered by the Association of Jewish Libraries, and announced at the 2022 ALA Youth Media Awards conference.

Dear Mr. Dickens is a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selection! For information and to order, click here.

Had a blast visiting my Junior Library Guild friends at the Texas Library Association annual conference!

Read about my personal journey with Dear Mr. Dickens on the Dickens Society blog in London here.

A story about winning THE NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARD in The Dallas Morning News. Read Tim Diovanni’s story here.

Read about Dear Mr. Dickens in a story about the role the Jewish Book Council plays as an advocate for Jewish books in this Canvas article here.

Featured on Good Reads with Ronna as part of the Sydney Taylor Book Award Blog Tour, organized by the Sydney Taylor Book Award committee of the Association of Jewish Libraries. Read it here.

Featured in Forbes magazine here.

Made Heidi Rabinowitz’ unofficial shortlist for the Sydney Taylor Book Awards! From Heidi’s THE BOOK OF LIFE:

Dear Mr. Dickens by Nancy Churnin, illustrated by Bethany Stancliffe, Albert Whitman & Co.

Churnin is a biography whiz, there's no question (hear my podcast interview with her from 2019 for proof!). Here she's fleshed out a little-known but important incident, wherein a Jewish reader schooled Charles Dickens about antisemitism and ultimately changed his mind and his writing. I love the relatable, richly colored illustrations, the strong female Jewish  representation, and the empowering role modeling of activism. I also loved Nancy's A Queen to the Rescue: The Story of Henrietta Szold, Founder of Hadassah, illustrated by Yevgenia Nayberg, Creston Books, another relatable depiction of a strong Jewish activist woman. If I had to choose, I'd say I prefer the Dickens book because it's about about a person who was not famous, and possibly because the style of art is more my jam, but both books are terrific.

Read the full post here.

The reviews are in!

A Starred Review from School Library Journal: "What unfolds in the story proves that with pen and paper, and some courage, we can persuade our own models to make their wrongs right...VERDICT An important addition to libraries that fills a gap about anti-Semitism and confronting prejudice." Thank you, to lovely librarian and reviewer Danielle Winter Langer of Brooklyn Public Library. Thanks to School Library Journal for all they do building bridges between kidlit creators and the librarians that bring children the books they need, flooding their hearts and minds with light.

Read the full review here.

Glowing words from Kirkus Reviews:  “Churnin presents this well-researched, little-known episode to young readers in simple, direct language that both conveys Eliza’s pain and her determination to right a wrong and provides them with a thoughtful comparison to their own time. Stancliffe’s deeply hued illustrations sympathetically depict Eliza in accurate mid-19th-century surroundings, with Dickens looking as he appears in contemporary portraits…A fascinating bit of history and much food for thought.” (author’s note, source note, acknowledgements)(Informational picture book. 5-9)

Read the full review here.

“A charming and timely story of a reader who had the courage and good sense to speak up”— David Paroissien, Professorial Research Fellow at University of Buckingham, England, and former editor of Dickens Quarterly

In 1863 a woman named Eliza Davis began a correspondence with Charles Dickens. Her first letter compliments the author for his attention to social issues but criticizes his portrayal of Jewish characters ("a vile prejudice"). Dickens initially responds harshly but eventually comes to rail against prejudice and creates kind Jewish characters in future work. Stancliffe's inviting illustrations with a lush palette are interspersed with black-and-white drawings that evoke Dickens's era. Churnin's language also echoes the period and includes direct quotes from the pair's seven letters. An author's note provides additional historical context for antisemitism in Great Britain and comments on how Dickens "encouraged sympathy for the Jewish community."—Miriam Steinberg-Egeth, Book Bundles: Jewish role models, The Horn Book. Read the full review here.

“Eliza Davis wrote letters to Charles Dickens, a writer she much admired, calling him out for his antisemitism. Remarkably, not only did he write back, he changed his mind because of her—making Dear Mr. Dickens a book about not just the power of an individual, but the power of words.”—Rachel Fremmer, The Tablet Read the full review here.

“Inspiration”— featured in Hadassah Magazine’s Just in Time for Hanukkah: Picture Books for the Kinderlach feature. Read about it here.

"I learned a lot from this book I didn't know (I hadn't realized that there had been more than one exchange of letters between Davis and Dickens), not just from the story itself, but also from the comprehensive Author's Note at the back. This children's book is the fullest and best account of the incident I've ever seen, enhanced by Bethay Stancliffe's lively and touching illustrations, and I recommend it highly."—Gina Dalfonzo, The Dickens Blog. The full review is here.

"An important story about a beloved author and the woman who influenced his work and life, Dear Mr. Dickens will spark conversations on issues of prejudice, standing up for one’s beliefs, personal change, courage to address wrongs, and many other topics. The book is highly recommended for home bookshelves and a must for school and public libraries."-- Celebrate Picture Books. Check out this amazing review and the complementary quill pen craft, too, here.

"This story presents young readers/listeners with the example of an ordinary person who did something extraordinary and changed her corner of the world."—Geo Librarian. Read the full review here.

“Words can transform, and this gorgeously written and illustrated picture book illuminates the importance of speaking up. It brought me to tears and it may very well do the same for you.”— Liza Wiemer, Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle. Read the full review here and below.

"Dear Mr. Dickens, written by Nancy Churnin and illustrated by Bethany Stancliffe, is an engaging and inspiring tribute to the power of the written word... this is the rare picture book that gives readers a window into antisemitism in 19th century England, while also presenting a way that a Jewish woman was able to effect change."--Karin Fisher-Golton, Sydney Taylor Shmooze Read the full review here.

"Nancy Churnin’s DEAR MR. DICKENS is the story of how a rich British housewife made like the Ghost of Hanukkah Present and wrote Charles Dickens a series of letters to set him straight…Verdict: "This book is exactly as cool as its premise sounds and comes highly recommended."— Kidlit Underground Read the full review here.

“I encourage readers to enter into the inspiring world of this picture book, enhanced by the artwork of Bethany Stancliffe, to experience the life, times, and dilemmas of the 19th century and how the same lessons learned from Mr. Dickens and Eliza Davis continue to be important in our current time.”—Michelle Nott, Two-in-One Picture Book Biography Review. Read the full review here.

"Based on their actual correspondence, Dear Mr. Dickens is an interesting look at a beloved author, a woman bold enough to speak up on behalf of those mistreated and maligned, and a friendly resolution to the issue. Would that our own culture took note and operated similarly!"-- Redeemed Reader. Read the full review here.

“I enjoyed learning about this story and I’m confident you and your children will, too.”—A lovely review by Heidi Frankel for fyi50plus!

And a sweet review by six-year-old Mila Vincent and her grandmother, Johannah Luza, for fyi50plus!

"My grandma told me it doesn’t matter what religion you are. Don’t judge others! Be kind to all people! I was sad at first when Mr. Dickens said bad things about Jews, but I was happy that he changed in the end. My grandma said he had a “change of heart.” I think this book might make other people have a “change of heart” too!"--Mila BooksIt Read the full review here.

Grateful to Sally Liebman Stieglitz and the Association of Jewish Libraries for the opportunity to share my DEAR MR. DICKENS journey in the fabulous SEVEN QUESTIONS WITH...feature of the latest issue of AJL News and Reviews. Love how my interview was followed by an article about the actual Dickens/Davis Correspondence at University College London by Vanessa Freedman, University, Subject Liaison Librarian: Hebrew & Jewish Studies, University College, London

Honored to launch Dear Mr. Dickens at the National Women’s History Museum in Washington D.C. alongside great books by great friends, A Vote for Susanna by Karen Greenwald and Tu Youyou’s Discovery by Songju Ma Daemicke. Enjoy a recording of our presentation below

Read the Texas Jewish Post story about the book here.

The Charles Dickens Museum in London is featuring Dear Mr. Dickens as part of its educational programming here.

Speaking up for Courageous Women Who Spoke Up and Changed the World. An honor to share a guest post on the Teen Librarian Toolbox on the School Library Journal here.

Why I Write Narrative Nonfiction. Always an honor to be featured on Melissa Stewart’s blog! Read my post here.

“Nancy’s books are among my all-time favorite Solutionary Stories—and her two latest ones about fascinating Jewish women are no exception! Nancy has the most compassionate storyteller’s heart, combined with a reporter’s nose to dig up the best research. Read on to learn more about Nancy’s books, and her broader mission.”—Talking to Meeg Pincus about Solutionary Stories here.

“A beautifully written biography about a woman I hadn’t heard of, but I am very familiar with her legacy.”—Laura Roettiger, Laura Roettiger Books. Read the post here.

“I am driven not only by the desire to shine a light on people who make our world better for generations to come, but also for young readers to see themselves in these subjects. I want them to be inspired to be Lamed-Vav. I want them to think of ways that they could be the Eliza Davis or Henrietta Szold of their generation and put those ideas into action. It’s my dream always that the story doesn’t end on the last page of the book, but it continues into their lives as they consider what they can do to heal and sustain the world.”— Talking with Barbara Krasner on The Whole Megillah. Read the post here.

Part time travel, part wishful thinking, and lots and lots of detective work. A pleasure to share my Dear Mr. Dickens journey with Kathy McCaughey Temean on her wonderful blog. Read the post here.

“For me, Eliza's story is, at its heart, a Queen Esther story in the way she took a risk to speak truth to power.”—Nancy Churnin on Gila Green Writes. Thank you, Gila Green of Israel for interviewing me for your blog! Read it here.

“Never forget that you are a gift to the world with the ability to understand and express things in a way no one has before. It may take a while for you to find a way to express your perspective. It may take a while for others to hear your music. But know you are music. Protect your song like a growing flower. When your stories bloom, it will be a beautiful day with much rejoicing.”—my advice to writers as part of an interview about Dear Mr. Dickens with Lydia Lukidis on her Blissfully Bookish blog here.

From Jena Benton on her great Simply 7 blog: “This was a story I had never heard about Dickens and was stunned to read. But Nancy excels at finding those fascinating tidbits in history that I can’t believe I’ve never heard of before. This is a story you won’t want to miss.” Read the post here.

Taking with Deborah Kalb on her terrific Book Q and As with Deborah Kalb blog here.

Talking with Maria C. Marshall on her lovely Picture Book Buzz blog here.

Talking with Melissa Berger Stoller on her fabulous 3-Question Interview blog here.

Talking with Darlene Beck-Jacobson on her wonderful blog here.

Talking with Vivian Kirkfield on her delicious Will Write for Cookies blog here.

Find your passion: my Nonfiction Ninjas post on why I wrote Dear Mr. Dickens here.

Featured in fyi50plus in an article by Rae DeShong here.

Dear Mr. Dickens is being featured in educational programming at The Charles Dickens Museum in London! Feel free to reach out directly to the museum to book one of their curated visits!

Had so much fun signing copies of Dear Mr. Dickens as part of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebration at The British Emporium in Grapevine!

HONORS

Winner of the 2021 National Jewish Book Award from the Jewish Book Council

Winner of the 2022 Sydney Taylor Honor Award from the Association of Jewish Libraries

DEAR MR. DICKENS was picked by Chicago Public Library as one of the Best Informational Books for Younger Readers in 2021. Read about it here.

DEAR MR. DICKENS was picked as one of the best Jewish children’s books of the year for 2021 by Tablet magazine. See the full list here.

DEAR MR. DICKENS was one of three books picked by Horn Book for HB Book Bundles: Jewish Role Models. See the full list here.

DEAR MR. DICKENS was one of 12 books picked for the #JewishReadInColor Recommended Reads, a diverse books program, in the picture book category for LITTLE FREE LIBRARY. See the full list here.

DEAR MR. DICKENS was named as one of 52 standout titles for September by School Library Journal! See link here.

DEAR MR. DICKENS was picked for A Mighty Girl list. Read about it here.

DEAR MR. DICKENS was nominated for the 2021 Cybil Awards for Elementary/Middle Grade Nonfiction. See the full list here.

Visit the DEAR… page where kids can share letters they write to people in positions of influence, as Eliza Davis did, asking them to right a wrong.

YES, we have bookmarks!