Today's post is a 2-for-1, a BOGO if you will, because I have finally read Roald Dahl, and I read both of these within a week of each other.
Yes, I said finally. I grew up watching Matilda and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but I had never actually read a single book by Roald Dahl until just a few weeks ago. Because he has written some of the best-loved children's stories of the 20th century, he's been on my LIFE LIST for years, but because he has written so many hits I've always been a tad unsure of where to begin or which books I should add to my library.
Well, my husband solved that problem for me by getting me a fun box set of sixteen of his books for my birthday, and my friend Courtney and her kids unanimously decided that I should begin with The Twits. So that's exactly what I did.
The Twits was originally published in 1980, and by that time, Dahl was already a well-known author of children's novels. In it, we meet the awful Mr. and Mrs. Twit who spend their days pulling nasty pranks on one another. They keep a family of pet monkeys called Muggle-Wumps which they also mistreat, and on Wednesday evenings they like to have bird pie for supper which they make out of the birds that Mr. Twit shoots after trapping them on his tree with Hug-Tight Sticky Glue. In this hilarious tale, the birds and the Muggle-Wumps finally give the Twits their comeuppance in one of the most delightfully funny endings ever.
The idea for The Twits was triggered by Dahl's hatred of beards which he desired to "do something against." The beginning of the book goes into painstaking detail of how disgusting Mr. Twit and his enormous beard are. I think the fact that Dahl wrote an entire book solely because of his aversion to facial hair is almost as funny as the book itself.
The Witches was published three years later in 1983, and I chose to read this one because my husband gave me the box set when it arrived (instead of making me wait till my birthday) and I thought The Witches would be fun to read on Halloween. (Spoiler: I was right.) In this one, we meet a little boy who has gone to live with his Norwegian grandmother after the death of his parents. The boy loves his grandmother and all her stories, but his favorite is the one about real witches. His grandmother warns him that witches live in every country in the world and it is their one goal in life to kill children. (Dahl's children's books are notoriously macabre and darkly comic, featuring villainous grown-up enemies of children.) When the boy and his grandmother uncover the Grand High Witch's evil plot to kill all the children in England (and eventually the world), they have to work together to stop it.
The Twits was fun, but I loved The Witches. Both books were funny and a little dark, and I think I really would have enjoyed them when I was younger (especially The Witches). 2020 seems to be the year of children's classics for me, and I'm not mad at it. I usually incorporate children's books into all my reading lists, but this year in particular I seem to be reaching for all the books I missed out on as a kid. I read for the first time and fell in love with such gems as A Little Princess, Tuck Everlasting, Charlotte's Web, Ballet Shoes, and The Little Prince. Not to mention I read Pippi Longstocking for the first time in over 20 years and the entirety of James Herriot's Treasury for Children. It's definitely been a sweet reading year for me.
But back to the matter at hand: I would absolutely recommend Roald Dahl. I don't see how you could make it through a read-aloud with your kids without giggling your way through, and even if you don't have any kids in your life to read to, these are fun ones to giggle yourself through. I'm looking forward to diving into more of his work next year, and I think the next one I pick up has to be Matilda because I loved the movie when I was a kid. But if you want to suggest your favorite, let me know!
What's your favorite book by Roald Dahl? Do you read or re-read children's books when life starts to go sideways? What's one of your favorites?
children's author*
ReplyDelete*horror writer for children.
might I suggest the film adaptations of "The Witches"? the 90s Angelica Huston film as well as the Anne Hathaway starrer that just released on HBOMax. I think you'd enjoy both.
Haha! He was definitely dark.
DeleteI've been meaning to track down the '90s adaptation of The Witches to watch ever since I finished the book, but haven't yet. And now I'm deep in Christmas movies. Maybe next year.
Oooft, you're brave! I remember The Witches scaring the pants off me when I was a kid (The Twits was no picnic either), and I'm still too chicken to re-visit it, even as a grown-up! Hahaha. My favourite was and will always be Matilda. A bookish only child who felt misunderstood and lonesome getting her comeuppance over all those who don't understand and mistreat her? Yes, please! I'd love to hear what you think of that one. (Pssst: if you want to keep the magic alive, don't look too much in to Roald Dahl's real life, he was quite a nasty piece of work...)
ReplyDeleteYes, I gathered that when I started to do a bit of research for this post so I stopped short. Haha!
DeleteI often wonder how a lot of these children's classics would have impacted me had I read them as an actual child. Another friend of mine said The Witches was one of the only Roald Dahl books she DIDN'T like because it scared her when she was little. Guess I'll never know.
Looking forward to Matilda!
P.S. Loved your letter to Santa. :)
Oh Dahl. There’s such a spectrum of humanity & I often find myself grateful that a large enough sampling of them become authors so we get to see inside their minds for a brief time. What a weirdo.
ReplyDeleteAlmost finished with Charlie & the Chocolate Factory!
Such a weirdo! 😂 I think I'm going to read to read the two Charlie books next but first another Roald Dahl post will be popping up soon featuring Matilda and The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me. 😊
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