Anyone who ever had a dog-eared copy of "A Christmas Carol" or "A Tale of Two Cities" in their backpacks might recognize today's Google doodle. The search giant is celebrating the 200th birthday of author Charles Dickens.
The doodle features classic Dickens characters drawn into the Google logo atop a London street scene - Search Engine Land has the rundown. According to PBS, Dickens brought to life as many as 13,143 characters in his many works.
"We hope our Charles Dickens 200th birthday doodle meets your Great Expectations. Cheers to a legendary storyteller," Google tweeted today.
Dickens was born in 1812, but by age 12, his father was sent to a debtor's prison for several months, and young Charles was forced to work long hours at Warrens Blacking Warehouse, affixing labels to bottles of shoe polish. The experience was later detailed in one of his classics, "Oliver Twist."
Dickens returned to school at Wellington House Academy in London, but when his father again ran into money trouble, Dickens left school and became a legal clerk. He then dabbled in court reporting and journalism, which led him to fiction writing - and his career of choice. As PBS noted, Dickens was an accomplished writer by age 24.
Starting with his first novel, The Pickwick Papers, Dickens's work was published in serial form, or installments, appearing in weekly and monthly magazines and as standalone works. This allowed him to build up a following, while the publisher could earn more by securing new advertisers for each 32-page installment.
Dickens died of a stroke in 1870 and was buried at Westminster Abbey.
The Charles Dickens Museum is located at 48 Doughty Street in London, which is where the author lived from 1837 until 1839. The house is set up to look as it would have when Dickens lived there, and the museum includes over 100,000 personal items from Dickens, including manuscripts, rare editions, paintings, and more. In April, the museum will shut down for a renovation expected to be done by December. The "Great Expectations Project" will make much-needed improvements to the building and boost accessibility.
For more on Google's doodles, meanwhile, see the slideshow below. One of the company's more popular doodles last year was a playable image in honor of musician Les Paul, which eventually got its own standalone site. The company has also honored Gumby creator Art Clokey, Muppets creator Jim Henson, Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, and Intel co-founder Robert Noyce.
In 2011, it was revealed that Google obtained a patent for its popular homepage doodles, covering "systems and methods for enticing users to access a Web site."