We’ve got all the Roald Dahl books in our house – my girls love them! The Magic Finger really caught my imagination when I was younger, I just thought it was quite strange. It’s the Roald Dahl book that people don’t talk about as much, and I really like the juxtaposition of the characters and how the ducks and the people swap roles.
My favourite part is when they wake up and the Gregg family first realise that they’ve swapped places; they’ve turned into tiny people with wings and the ducks have grown to people size and they have arms instead!
Favourite quote:
“Don’t shoot! Please don’t shoot!”
“Why not?” said one of the ducks. “You are always shooting at us.”
“Oh, but that’s not the same! Said Mr. Gregg. “We are allowed to shoot ducks.”
“Who allows you?”asked the duck.
“We allow each other,” said Mr. Gregg.
“Very nice,” said the duck.” And now we are going to allow each other to shoot you.”
Will’s favourite: George’s Marvellous Medicine
I think George’s Marvellous Medicine was my favourite as a kid, purely because I remember reading it so many times. I loved that it was all about wanting to one-up the grown-ups! I think my favourite part was when George blew up his nan!
“Lalalalalalalala I have nothing to say!”
(Either that or: “Never grow up – always grow down.”)
The Twits is definitely my favourite Roald Dahl book. I really liked the illustrations by Quentin Blake, I remember a really gross one of the beard with all food in it!
I love that the characters were always playing tricks on one another and that they were really badly behaved – and I went to see a show of the book when I was little.
Favourite quote:
“A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.”
I loved The BFG, the book and the animated film; I’m a bit nervous about the remake! I liked that the main character Sophie was a bit lonely until she meets the BFG, and they sort of find eachother even though they’re both sort of left out in their own worlds. And the snozzcumbers, I liked them too.
My favourite part is when the BFG takes Sophie to the room full of the dream jars, and I always like the idea of “witching hour” which I fully believed in as a child!
Favourite quote:
“Two rights don’t equal a left”
“Witches of England you’re a disgrace!” (and then she brings her potion out!)
- His first children’s book is usually considered to be James and the Giant Peach, but actually it is The Gremlins, based on WW2 RAF folklore. The Gremlins was written when Dahl was stationed in Washington in 1942. Dahl already has a career as a WW2 fighter pilot, having flown planes in North Africa. The Gremlins takes place in southern England during the Battle of Britain in 1940. The made-up “gremlins” were commonly given the blame by the RAF personnel when anything went wrong throughout the Second World War, as Eileen Younghusband will well know.
- Roald Dahl actually co-wrote the screenplay for the children’s classic Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, based on the novel of the same name by Bond writer Ian Fleming. He was, in fact, the creative mind behind the chilling and villainous character The Child Snatcher (who terrifies the best of us to this day… even if we are too old for bedtime stories!), as the character didn’t appear in the original novel. Thanks, Roald Dahl…
Sorry for the nightmares… - The Fantastic Mr Fox was, at least partly, inspired by a tree that sat outside Roald Dahl’s house in Great Missenden. He used to call it the “witching tree” and tell his children stories about the family of foxes who lived inside it.
