For parents

Great Expectations for Kids: A Parent’s Guide

A convict on the misty marshes, a lady in a wedding dress and a secret fortune. How to bring Dickens’s great mystery to young readers.

By Sean Lee · November 10, 2026

What is Great Expectations about?

Charles Dickens’s novel, published in 1860 and 1861, is told by Pip, an orphan boy who lives with his strict sister and her gentle husband, Joe the blacksmith, beside the Kent marshes. One Christmas Eve a frightening escaped convict makes Pip bring him food and a file, and Pip, scared as he is, helps him. Soon after, Pip is sent to play at Satis House, where Miss Havisham still wears her wedding dress among stopped clocks, and proud Estella makes him ashamed of his rough hands.

Then a London lawyer brings amazing news: a secret helper has given Pip a fortune so he can become a gentleman. In London, Pip makes a cheerful best friend, Herbert, but he grows proud and forgets the people who love him. When he finally learns who his real benefactor is, Pip discovers that kindness, loyalty and gratitude matter far more than money.

Meet the characters

• Pip: a kind-hearted orphan boy who dreams of becoming a gentleman.
• Joe Gargery: Pip’s big, gentle brother-in-law, the village blacksmith and his truest friend.
• Abel Magwitch: a rough runaway convict with a grateful, loyal heart.
• Miss Havisham: a rich, sad lady who stopped all her clocks on her wedding day.
• Estella: a beautiful, proud girl raised to hide her feelings.
• Biddy: a clever village girl who always tells Pip the gentle truth.
• Mr. Jaggers: a stern London lawyer who keeps everyone’s secrets.
• Herbert Pocket: Pip’s sunny London roommate, who nicknames him Handel.

Is Great Expectations right for young children?

The original is long and written for adults, and it has some dark moments: the convict’s threats in the graveyard, Miss Havisham’s dress catching fire, a struggle on the river and Magwitch’s death in prison. In a gentle retelling, the convict is more frightened than frightening, Pip bravely puts out the fire, and Magwitch dies peacefully with Pip holding his hand. What children take away is the heart of the story: Pip is ashamed of the people who love him, he says sorry, and they forgive him. It’s a wonderful book for talking about gratitude, pride and second chances.

Big ideas to talk about

• Money and fine clothes don’t make someone good: Joe the blacksmith is the truest gentleman of all.
• One small kindness can change a life, as Pip’s pork pie changed Magwitch’s.
• It hurts people when we are ashamed of them, and it takes courage to say sorry.
• Holding on to a hurt for too long, like Miss Havisham’s stopped clocks, keeps us from being happy.

Activities

• Make a paper plate clock stopped at twenty minutes to nine, like the clocks at Satis House.
• Draw the misty marshes with reeds, a river and a beacon, then add chalk fog.
• Write a thank-you note to someone who has been kind to you, the way Magwitch never forgot Pip.
• Use our free Great Expectations discussion questions, character cards and unit study.