Victorian literature: from Dickens to Kipling's animal tales

Charles Dickens' early life and success

As a child Charles Dickens was poor. He left school at a young age to work in a factory for long hours. He never forgot this bad experience. His first novel was The Pickwick papers (1837) and it was a success. He wrote fourteen important novels, includine Oliver Twist (1839) and David Copperfield (1849-50). He wrote about the poor people and the social problema at that time.
In 1877 Anna Sewell wrote Black Beauty. It was about the life and adventure of a horse. After reading this book people began to understand that animals were living creatures and it was wrong to mistreat them.

Wilkie Collins and the birth of detective fiction

In 1868 Wilkie Collina published The Moonstone with one of the first detectives in English fiction, Sergeant Cuff. The novel became very popular and people starter detective fiction.Lewis
Lewis Carroll wrote the first fantasy story for children, called Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865). It was a best seller. Victorian children loved the book with its exciting adventures and beautiful illustrations by Sir John Tenniel.

Robert Louis Stevenson's adventure tales

In 1883 Robert Louis Stevenson wrote a great adventure book for young people called Treasure Island. It was about a young boy’s adventures with pirates at sea. He also wrote other adventure stories, like Kidnapped (1886) and The Black Arrow (1888)
Rudyard Kipling wrote The Jungle Book (1894), The Second Jungle Book (1895) and Just So Stories (1902); they were very popular with children. Most of the characters of these books were animals.