My 3 1/2 year old daughter， Lila， read her first collection of chapter books and is hooked。 We’re reading Fantastic Mr Fox for the THIRD time and she’s listened to it I don’t know how many。 Personally， I always find Roald Dahl。。。 sad。 So much child abuse and weird stuff。 But clearly I’m not the intended audience because my 3 year old is in love！
Thomas，
Reading Dahl's stories again and en masse you see some of the prevaling themes that run through his incredible body of work。 The collection I read had The Twits inside instead of Fantastic Mr Fox， but in a period of two week I got through all these and more （Charlie and the Chocolate Factory， George's Marvellous Medicine， Matilda and Mr Fox from another collection） out loud with a 5-year old。 I don't think there is any more enjoyable reading experience。 Dahl's writing is truly alive， fizzing and Reading Dahl's stories again and en masse you see some of the prevaling themes that run through his incredible body of work。 The collection I read had The Twits inside instead of Fantastic Mr Fox， but in a period of two week I got through all these and more （Charlie and the Chocolate Factory， George's Marvellous Medicine， Matilda and Mr Fox from another collection） out loud with a 5-year old。 I don't think there is any more enjoyable reading experience。 Dahl's writing is truly alive， fizzing and bubbling with madness， aggression， magic and beauty。 You see his obsession with poor， tragic， maltreated children as well as mean， immoral adults。 You see his respect for the clever， unique， thoughtful boy or girl， and the disgust he feels for most of the stupid， ignorant rest！ You feel his need to write about guns， hunting， old aristocrats， animals in captivity and human relationships to them。 You see his love of a good prank， a devilish trick。 You gaze upon his fascination with the grotesque and absurb， but also his soft spot for the truly beautiful and kind。His collected works doesn't merit a full five stars - not every book is a masterpiece， although none of them are bad and possible only The Magic Finger （while an intriguing moral hunting fable） is truly average。 The majority， however， are pure insane brilliance and a few rank among the best bits of creative writing ever to have materialised out of the human imagination。 The characters do have certain moulds。 Charlie， George and James could be the same boy。 The grandma in George's Marvellous Medicine reappears in many guises - throughout Dahl's stories there is an insiduous sense of the occult， of a hidden world of black magic lying on the edge of our reality。 Grandma hints at it， George is swept up in it as he prances around his medicine singing a rhyme that just pops into his head， James is given a gift that takes him to the edge of the magical world， and Mr Wonka is pratically a full time resident。 In The Twits and Fantastic Mr Fox Dahl turns animals into mythical freedom fighters， achieving justice for the caged circus monkey or the starving woodland animal。 It's all so perfectly on the edge of reality。 Nothing comes close to the slightly creepy， spooky and tingling feeling of Dahl's hidden world。And it is spooky。 Mr and Mrs Twit do want to eat boys。 James's parents are indisputably eaten by a rhinocerus。 The langauge of insults and violence is rife in Dahl's books， especially his longer， darker works。 Matilda is on one hand a book about the marvels of youth and learning and on the other a cautionary tale about the prevailing violence in our parental and educational systems。 In some sense the books are dated， and Dahl savours the then old-fashioned figure of the aggressive head teacher or the conservative father。 Yet these figures have not disappeared from society either。 Still， the books are hard。 Matilda， especially， is not a novel for the faint hearted。 Sometimes it seems Dahl himself is a heartless， callous and even vindictive writer， reveling in the suffering of his characters - during the tour of Wonka's factory four children are disposed of quite mercilessly and there is no doubt that Dahl wants to hint at a truly， dangerously mad side to Wonka， that the children certainly won't even be the same again。 And then he comes out with a scene of such careful， simple loveliness， like Charlie opening the chocolate bar for his birthday with his 90 year old grandparents watching like eager children， and you know he had a heart too。Of the short novels， The Twits and Fantastic Mr Fox stand out as being pure comic genius。 Mr Fox and his bravado comes alive through Dahl's dramatic dialogues and speeches。 It's a rollercoaster of adventurous good will from the moment he decides to begin tunneling until the final victorious feast。 The best bits of the Twits are his superfluous descriptions at the beginning and their maloderous pranks。 I don't think two characters were ever introduced to the reader with such a joyous celebration of words。 Of course the illustrations help - words and images compliment each other perfectly。 That these two are untouchable shouldn't take anything away from the brilliance and comedy of George's Marvellous Medicine， which is as funny as it is satisfying， containing one of the most visual and disgusting descriptions of an old person's mouth ever written， and a wonderful moment when a chicken says "ouch！"。 The Giraffe， the Pelly and Me is maybe his best and most joyful short story for really young readers and the best place to dive into Dahl's world， with three fantastic animal protagonists and some of his very best rhymes and songs。Charlie and the Chocolate factory is truly a bizarre and scary novel， with Mr Willy Wonka standing up there with literatures great madmen。 It is also Dahl's most Dickensian effort， almost a parody with it's descriptions of Charlie's poverty。 It also makes Charlie Dahl's most lovable and sympathetic main character。 It's a shame the story had to continue in The Glass Elevator - perhaps Dahl's only narrative misstep。 Matilda， already mentioned， might just be his masterpiece and James and the Giant Peach is a wonderful， confusion， hallucination - true escapism。 The Giant Peach is a serious book - James is very much escaping from a terrible life - but the magic of it dispels the cruelty from the moment the peach rolls over the two terrible aunts in the garden and they splash into the ocean。 The rest of the book is a true odyssey， taking in shark attacks， cloud people and the Empire State Building。 There is something so dreamlike about it that it becomes almost sad， James's impossible alternative life， friends with insects on board a floating peach。 But Dahl pulls it off with a brilliant cast of many legged characters - the Centipede is the most memorable， and the ladybird is so lovable， another example of Dahl's sometimes hidden heart - and his unstoppable sense of humour。It's a pure pleasure to retrace steps through these books with a new listener/reader。 8 。。。more
