David Copperfield: Grade 3, Oxford Progressive English Readers By Charles Dickens

Young David Copperfield's life starts to go wrong when his mother marries the cruel Mr. Murdstone. David is sent to school, where headmaster Mr. Creakle hits him whenever he can. He is happiest when visiting the boat-house home of his nurse Peggotty and her family. When he runs away to find his Aunt Betsy Trotwood, things begin to improve. The story follows David as he grows up, makes friends and enemies, and navigates the fortunes of his unhappy childhood into adulthood. Charles Dickens was a very popular writer in England during the Queen Victoria era, and many of his stories focus on children and the hard lives of poor people; David Copperfield was Dickens' own favourite story.