George’s Marvellous Medicine Book by Roald Dahl
Book Review : George’s Marvellous Medicine Book by Roald Dahl
When George’s parents are away for the day, he’s tempted to do something about his tyrannical grandmother. “Something” means going round the house collecting all kinds of horrible ingredients that will make up a magic potion to make her disappear. But instead of disappearing, she gets bigger.
George’s grandma is a grizzly, grumpy, selfish old woman with pale brown teeth and a small puckered-up mouth like a dog’s bottom. Four times a day she takes a large spoonful of thick brown medicine, but it doesn’t seem to do her any good. She’s always just as horrid after she’s taken it as she was before.
So when George is left alone to look after her one morning, it’s just the chance he needs…
Quentin Blake is well known as Roald Dahl’s principal illustrator but has also written and illustrated a great many picture books of his own, such as Mister Magnolia and Zagazoo. He was the first Children’s Laureate from 1999 to 2001
Plot Summary : George’s Marvellous Medicine Book by Roald Dahl
George Kranky, a small boy who lives on a farm with his mother, father and grandmother, is fed up of his Grandma’s selfishness, grumpiness and her attitude towards him. George seeks to cure it by brewing a special medicine to cure her (made from every harmful product in the house, and several animal medicines from his father’s shed), only to end up making his Grandma as tall as a house. While this does not improve her disposition, it does make her happier. George’s father Mr. Killy Kranky (a farmer) and mother come home; when the father sees the giant hen (produced by the medicine given to the hen to prove to Grandma that the reason she is that huge is because of his medicine, although this attempt is failed), he is excited while the mother is first in shock and then starts to ignore the grandmother.
George’s father hits on the idea of making more of George’s marvellous medicine to make his animals bigger and fatter so they can be sold for higher prices at the market. Unfortunately, George cannot remember the recipe (basically because he put in everything he could find); after four failed attempts, involving some oddly deformed chickens, they create a formula which makes things shrink. The nasty Grandma, feeling ignored, thinks that the medicine is her tea and drinks all of it, shrinking to nothing, and complains the entire time. The mother is sad, while the father is happy and says all is well because the grandmother was a nasty old hag; by lunchtime, the mother agrees with her husband. George then realizes that in a mere two days, he has touched, with his fingertips, the edge of another world. Yet everyone else has already forgotten about it. The story then ends.
Ingredients Of His New Medicine : George’s Marvellous Medicine Book by Roald Dahl
* Bathroom items: Golden Gloss Hair Shampoo, toothpaste, some shaving soap, vitamin enriched face cream, hair remover (“Smear it on your legs”), Brillident (for cleaning false teeth), Dishworth’s Famous Dandruff Cure, liquid paraffin, Nevermore Ponking Deodorant Spray and nail varnish.
* Shed items: Chicken Medicine, Horse strength throat lozenges, cow ointment, sheep dip and pig pills.
* Kitchen cupboard: Curry powder, mustard powder, a tin of black peppercorns, a bottle of extra hot chilli sauce and a bottle of horse radish sauce.
* Other kitchen items: SuperWhite (for automatic washing machines), WaxWell Floor Polish, flea powder, canary seeds and Dark Tan Shoe Polish.
* Bedroom items: Lipstick ,”Flower of Turnip,” (it smells like old cheese), Helga’s Hair Set, Pink Plaster Face Powder and a powderpuff.
* Garage items: Engine oil, anti-freeze and a handful of grease.
* Also: One quart dark brown gloss paint (for colour) and petrol.