"I was very intrigued by the contest, because I believe there should be fun in education and I believe our job as educators is to stimulate the imagination," she says.
"Bringing to life Dickens and his characters is a great way to get the readers really involved."
The American Idol-style contest featured five contestants, three women and two men. Each had to present a monologue from Dickens' work.
"I chose to create my own monologue," says Litman. "I figure whoever they chose to be Dickens should be able to think creatively on their feet."
Litman also had to act out a scene from one of Dickens' books. She chose Fagin from Oliver Twist.
Litman, who has two grown daughters with her husband, real estate agent Barry Polis, has had a colorful job history. She studied science at the University of Pennsylvania, where she worked as an immunologist before striking out for New York as an actor. She has been an educational consultant for a decade.
Sandra A. Horrocks, the library's vice president of external affairs, says Litman dominated the contest.
"She was the one that had the best costume, the best British accent," she says, "and she had the best answers during the Q&A session."
Horrocks says the Free Library is especially suited for a Dickens Bicentennial, since it has one of the largest Dickens collections in the country.
"We have over 4,000 items," she says, "a lot of first editions, a cache of letters, Dickens' writing desk, and even the stuffed raven who was the Dickens family pet, Grip."
For information about the Dickens Bicentennial, visit http://freelibrary.org/dickens.
