Roald Dahl Book

Book Review : The Magic Finger Book by Roald Dahl

The Magic Finger is a children’s story published by Roald Dahl in 1966. Although the original edition had illustrations by William Pene du Bois, there have been later editions of the book with illustrations by Pat Mariott, Tony Ross, and Quentin Blake.

The story of a little girl with magical powers. When someone makes her angry she zaps a punishment on them with her magic flashing finger! This edition has a great new cover, with illustrations by Quentin Blake, and some new facts about Roald Dahl and his world.

The story is about the Gregg family that hunts ducks for fun, and is narrated by an unnamed eight-year-old girl, who live next door to them. The girl possesses a power to punish people who make her cross called “the magic finger” but she has no control over what it does or when it happens.

The girl becomes so annoyed at the Greggs shooting and killing ducks she places the magic finger on them. The next day the Greggs wake up as tiny people with wings instead of arms and their house is taken over by four human-size ducks with arms instead of wings. The Greggs are forced to build a nest in one of the trees in their garden, where they spend the night. The next morning they wake up to find the large ducks with the Greggs’ guns, standing under their tree. They make the Greggs promise not to hunt shoot ducks anymore. They are changed back into normal humans.The next day, the girl goes to their house and find the family smashing their guns and setting up graves for the birds that they killed. The girl hears a gun fire as a neighbouring family, the Coopers, start shooting. Running in that direction, she shouts back to the Greggs that the Coopers will be nesting in the trees that night.

Book Review : The Gremlins Book by Roald Dahl

Published in 1943 and long unavailable, Dark Horse Books is proud to present this landmark book from the author of such beloved tales as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach and Matilda. Digitally restored, this remarkable presentation of Dahl’s classic story, lavishly illustrated by the artists of the Walt Disney Studios, will delight readers of all ages! The Gremlins is the story of Gus, a British World War II fighter pilot, who during the Battle of Britain turned to look out on the wing of his plane only to see an amazing sight: a little man, no more than six inches tall with horns growing from his head, drilling a hole in the plane’s wing. Gus was the first man to ever see a Gremlin, and what happened after that would change the war, and the world, forever. Bought by Walt Disney to be produced as an animated motion picture (and considered to be the first story featuring the mythical airplane sabotaging creatures known as Gremlins), the project was ultimately shelved and is reprinted here for the first time in over 60 years.

History : The Gremlins Book by Roald Dahl

The Gremlins is a children’s book, written by Roald Dahl and published in 1943. It was Dahl’s first children’s book, and was written for Walt Disney, optioned for a film that was never made, in part because no one could establish exactly who owned the word “gremlin” and in part because they could not figure out how to make creatures who destroyed Allied aircraft lovable enough for a cartoon. On 25 September 2006, a reprinted edition of the book was released by Dark Horse Comics.

The story concerns mischievous little mythical creatures, the Gremlins of the title, that were often used by Royal Air Force pilots as an explanation for mid-air mechanical troubles and mishaps. In Dahl’s book, the gremlins’ motivation for sabotaging British planes is the destruction of their home, a forest, which was flattened to make way for an aircraft factory. The principal character in the book, Gus, has his plane destroyed over the English Channel by a gremlin, but is able to convince the gremlin as they parachute into the water that they should join forces against a common enemy—Hitler and the Nazis—rather than fight each other. Eventually, the gremlins are re-trained by the Royal Air Force to help repair, rather than sabotage, aircraft, and they also help restore Gus to active flight status after a particularly severe crash. (This was a kind of autobiographical reference for Dahl, who had flown as a pilot in the RAF, and was barred from flying after serious injuries sustained in a crash landing in Libya. He later returned to flying.) The book also contains picturesque details about the ordinary lives of gremlins: baby gremlins, for instance, are known as widgets, and females as fifinellas, a name taken from the great “flying” filly racehorse Fifinella, who won both the Epsom Derby and Epsom Oaks in 1916, the year Dahl was born.

The Dahl creations were subsequently used by Warner Bros. in several WWII cartoons, most notably Russian Rhapsody and Falling Hare, which starred Bugs Bunny. Several variations on gremlin characters were also used in World War II propaganda and as mascots for air units, such as Fifinella, who was used by the WASPs (Women Airforce Service Pilots) on their patches.

In September 2006, Dark Horse Comics reprinted a faithfully restored version of The Gremlins as well as creating a series of Gremlin-inspired toys and figurines.

A special edition of the book was produced to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the United States Air Force and was distributed exclusively through the Army and Air Force Exchange Service. The USAF special edition featured a unique dustjacket that bore the commemorative seal of the 60th USAF Anniversary. The inside flap of the dustjacket featured a brief history of the book’s role in improving morale for airmen and their families. The initial distribution of the USAF 60th Anniversary commemorative edition sold out at all participationg AAFES locations on the first day of sale.

Used copies of the first edition book are highly prized and sought after by collectors of both Roald Dahl’s works and Disney’s; these copies may be valued anywhere between $100 and $10,000 US dollars.

The Gremlins have been confirmed to appear, according to Game Informer’s November 2009 issue, in the upcoming Disney/Warren Spector game Epic Mickey, as tiny helpers of Mickey. Their leader Gus will serve as a conscience figure to Mickey (almost like Jiminy Cricket is to Pinocchio).

Book Review : The BFG ( The Big Friendly Giant ) Book by Roald Dahl

Evidently not even Roald Dahl could resist the acronym craze of the early eighties. BFG? Bellowing ferret-faced golfer? Backstabbing fairy godmother? Oh, oh… Big Friendly Giant! This BFG doesn’t seem all that F at first as he creeps down a London street, snatches little Sophie out of her bed, and bounds away with her to giant land. And he’s not really all that B when compared with his evil, carnivorous brethren, who bully him for being such an oddball runt. After all, he eats only disgusting snozzcumbers, and while the other Gs are snacking on little boys and girls, he’s blowing happy dreams in through their windows. What kind of way is that for a G to behave?

The BFG is one of Dahl’s most lovable character creations. Whether galloping off with Sophie nestled into the soft skin of his ear to capture dreams as though they were exotic butterflies; speaking his delightful, jumbled, squib-fangled patois; or whizzpopping for the Queen, he leaves an indelible impression of bigheartedness.

History : The BFG ( The Big Friendly Giant ) Book by Roald Dahl

The BFG (short for “Big Friendly Giant”) is a children’s book written by Roald Dahl and illustrated by Quentin Blake, first published in 1982. The book was an expansion of a story told in Danny, the Champion of the World, an earlier Dahl book. An animated film based on the book was released in 1989 with David Jason providing the voice of the BFG and Amanda Root as the voice of Sophie. The book went on to win a Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis prize in 1985. It has also been adapted as a theatre performance.

Plot : The BFG ( Big Friendly Giant ) Book by Roald Dahl

The story is about a little girl named Sophie, a name inspired by the author’s granddaughter Sophie Dahl; Roald’s mother was Sofie Magdalene Hesselberg Dahl. One night when Sophie can’t fall asleep during the “witching hour”, she sees a giant blowing something into the bedroom windows down the street. The giant notices her; although she tries to hide in her bed, he reaches through the window and carries her away to his home in giant country.

Fortunately for Sophie, she has been abducted by the world’s only benevolent giant, the Big Friendly Giant or BFG. Operating in the strictest secrecy, the BFG catches good dreams. With the help of his giant ears he can hear dreams and their contents (which manifest themselves in misty Dream Country as floating, blob-like objects) and blow them via a trumpet-like blowpipe into the bedrooms of children. When he catches a nightmare, he explodes it, bottles it forever, or sometimes uses it to start fights among his neighboring mean giants. The BFG has a very pleasant character, oftentimes misusing words and having difficulty in grammar. He often writes down mixtures of dreams for children. Sophie teaches him how to speak properly and in the end it is revealed that the story was written and told by the BFG himself after learning english from Sophie.

The other giants are not so pleasant; each night they go out into the world to steal and eat “human beans”, especially children. There is little else for them to eat where they live; the BFG, because he refuses to eat people, must survive on a revoltingly bitter and sour vegetable known as a snozzcumber. Luckily he is also able to make a delicious drink called frobscottle, which is fizzy and infinitely refreshing. It is rather unusual in that the bubbles in the drink travel downwards and therefore cause the drinker to break wind instead of burp; this causes noisy flatulence known as Whizzpoppers.

Sophie and the BFG become friends. Eventually, Sophie persuades the BFG that something must be done to stop the anthropophagous, or cannibalistic, giants. Together they develop a plan to get the Queen of England to help them. The BFG mixes a dream which will show the Queen what the giants do; when complete, it is the worst nightmare she has ever encountered. They set off for Buckingham Palace and blow the dream into the Queen’s bedroom. The BFG then leaves Sophie on the Queen’s windowsill and retreats into the palace gardens to hide.

When the Queen awakens, Sophie tells her that all of her dream was true. Because the dream included the knowledge that Sophie would be there when she woke up, the Queen believes her and speaks with the BFG. After considerable effort by the palace staff to create a table, chair and cutlery of appropriate size for him to use, the BFG is given a lavish breakfast, and the Queen begins work on eliminating the other giants. She calls the King of Sweden and the Sultan of Baghdad to confirm the BFG’s story– the giants having visited those locations on the previous two nights–then summons the head of the Army and the Marshal of the Air Force. The said officers, though initially belligerent and skeptical, are brought to cooperate.

Eventually a huge fleet of helicopters follows the BFG to the giants’ homeland. While the child-eating giants are asleep, the Army ties them up, hangs them under the helicopters, and after a brief struggle with the Fleshlumpeater, flies them to London, where a special large pit has been constructed from which they will not be able to escape. For their punishment, the child-eating giants must eat the gross, ukyslush snozzcumber and yell/moan in embarrassment and humiliation.

Giants : The BFG ( The Big Friendly Giant ) Book by Roald Dahl

The nine anthropophagous giants in the story are called:

* The Fleshlumpeater
* The Bonecruncher
* The Manhugger
* The Childchewer
* The Meatdripper
* The Gizzardgulper
* The Maidmasher
* The Bloodbottler
* The Butcher Boy

There is a possible tenth giant, Sene the New Zealander-eating “Welly-Eating Giant” is mentioned only once and is mysteriously never referred to again, although this may simply be a reference to one of the known giants under a different name.

Most of the nasty giants are only mentioned by name; some are given a larger role, such as Fleshlumpeater, who is the nastiest of them all, and Bloodbottler, who invades the BFG’s cave early in the story. Later, the BFG narrates the hunting methods of Childchewer, Gizzardgulper, and Meatdripper. It is also remarked that each giant has his favorite hunting ground, though they vary at times. Because all humans taste differently, the giants have certain preferences; all detest Greece as a hunting ground, however. This is because the flavors supposedly reflect the names and/or principal exports of their native land: therefore, Greeks taste greasy, Danes taste canine, and Swedes taste both sweet and sour, the English taste like Bread and butter pudding, Irish taste of Spuds and the Scottish taste of Scotch eggs and so on.

ISBN Number : The BFG ( The Big Friendly Giant ) Book by Roald Dahl

* ISBN 0-224-02040-4 (hardcover, 1982)
* ISBN 0-374-30469-6 (hardcover, 1982)
* ISBN 0-590-06019-8 (paperback, 1982)
* ISBN 0-435-12279-7 (hardcover, 1984)
* ISBN 0-14-031597-7 (paperback, 1984)
* ISBN 0-14-034019-X (paperback, 1985)
* ISBN 1-85715-924-1 (hardcover, 1993)
* ISBN 0-679-42813-5 (hardcover, 1993)
* ISBN 0-14-130105-8 (paperback, 1998)
* ISBN 0-14-130283-6 (paperback, 1999)
* ISBN 0-14-131137-1 (paperback, 2001)
* ISBN 0-224-06452-5 (hardcover, 2002)

Book Review : Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Book by Roald Dahl

For the first time in a decade, Willy Wonka, the reclusive and eccentric chocolate maker, is opening his doors to the public–well, five members of the public, actually. The lucky five who find a Golden Ticket in their Wonka bars will receive a private tour of the factory, given by Mr Wonka himself. For young Charlie Bucket, this a dream come true. So when he finds a dollar bill in the street, he can’t help but buy two Wonka’s Whipple-Scrumptious Fudgemallow Delights–even though his impoverished family could certainly use the extra dollar for food. But as Charlie unwraps the second chocolate bar, he sees the glimmer of gold just under the wrapper. The very next day, Charlie, along with his unworthy fellow winners Mike Teavee, Veruca Salt, Violet Beauregarde and Augustus Gloop, steps through the factory gates to discover whether or not the rumours surrounding the Chocolate Factory and its mysterious owner are true. What they find is that the gossip can’t compare to the extraordinary truth, and for Charlie, life will never be the same again. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: another unforgettable masterpiece from the legendary Roald Dahl, never fails to delight, thrill and utterly captivate. (Ages 9 to 12)

History : Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Book by Roald Dahl

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964) is a children’s book by British author Roald Dahl. The story features the adventures of young Charlie Bucket inside the chocolate factory of eccentric candymaker Willy Wonka.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was first published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. in 1964, and in the United Kingdom by George Allen & Unwin in 1967. The book was adapted into two major motion pictures: Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory in 1971, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in 2005. The book’s sequel, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, was written by Roald Dahl in 1972. Dahl had also planned to write a third book in the series, but had never finished it.

The story was originally inspired by Roald Dahl’s experience of chocolate companies during his schooldays. Cadbury would often send test packages to the schoolchildren in exchange for their opinions on the new products. At that time (around the 1920s) Cadbury and Rowntree’s were England’s two largest chocolate makers, and they each often tried to steal trade secrets by sending spies into the other’s factory, posing as employees. Because of this, both companies became highly protective of their chocolate making processes. It was a combination of this secrecy and the elaborate, often gigantic, machines in the factory that inspired Roald Dahl to write Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Synopsis : Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Book by Roald Dahl

Charlie Bucket, a nice boy from a poor family, lives with his parents and both sets of elderly grandparents (Grandpa Joe, Grandma Josephine, Grandpa George and Grandma Georgina). From these four, especially Grandpa Joe, he hears stories about the candymaker Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory he built in Charlie’s hometown. As time passed, rival chocolate makers sent in spies, posing as workers, in order to steal his recipes. Frustrated by this, Mr. Wonka decided to send home his workers and close the factory. Years of silence passed until one day, when the factory mysteriously came back to life. The gates remain locked however; the factory has resumed operations with workers whose identity is a mystery. Nobody, including Wonka, is seen going in or out of the factory anymore.

One day, the headline of Mr. Bucket’s evening paper states that Wonka is holding a worldwide contest, in which five Golden Tickets are hidden under the wrappers of his candy bars; the prize for those who find them is a day-long tour of the factory and a lifetime supply of chocolate. The contest becomes a worldwide mania, with people resorting to increasingly desperate and unscrupulous measures to find the tickets, and anyone who succeeds becomes front-page headline news and a worldwide celebrity. Charlie and four bad children, the gluttonous Augustus Gloop, spoiled Veruca Salt, gum-addicted Violet Beauregarde, and television-obsessed Mike Teavee, win the contest and go on the tour, led by Wonka. As the group moves from room to room, the tour turns into a punishment for the bad children as one child after another falls victim to his/her particular vices and is removed. Augustus falls into a chocolate river and is sucked up a pipe to the fudge room; Violet turns into a blueberry after consuming experimental chewing gum; Veruca is thrown down a garbage chute after attempting to take one of Wonka’s nut-cracking squirrels for her own; and Mike is shrunk after meddling with dangerous television equipment. They leave the factory with permanent reminders of their misbehavior as well as their lifetime supply of chocolate: Augustus is squeezed thin, Violet is purple, Veruca is covered in garbage, and Mike is ten feet tall and very thin (Wonka had him stretched to repair the damage caused by the TV equipment).

Charlie is the only child who does not misbehave throughout the factory. Seeing that he is the only one left, Wonka announces that he has “won.” He receives the entire factory and will take over the company after Wonka retires. The reason Wonka had sent out the Golden Tickets was to find a child to be his heir, as he himself has no family to carry on his work. The two board a special glass elevator along with Grandpa Joe, who accompanied Charlie on the tour. As they are propelled up from the factory, the book ends, but the story continues in the sequel, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator.

Criticisms : Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Book by Roald Dahl

Although the book has always been popular, over the years a number of prominent individuals have spoken critically of the novel. Children’s novelist and literary historian John Rowe Townsend has described the book as “fantasy of an almost literally nauseating kind” and accusing it of “astonishing insensitivity” regarding the original portrayal of the Oompa-Loompas as black pygmies, although Dahl did revise this later (See below). Another novelist, Eleanor Cameron, compared the book to the candy that forms its subject matter, commenting that it is “delectable and soothing while we are undergoing the brief sensory pleasure it affords but leaves us poorly nourished with our taste dulled for better fare”.  Ursula K. Le Guin voiced her support for this assessment in a letter to Cameron. Defenders of the book have pointed out it was unusual for its time in being quite dark for a children’s book, with the “antagonists” not being adults or monsters (as is the case even for most of Dahl’s books) but the naughty children.

Main Rooms : Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Book by Roald Dahl

There are four main rooms that the tour goes through, losing one child at a time.

Chocolate Room

The Chocolate Room is the first room that the many different people are able to go into. It is said that everything in this room is edible: the pavements, the bushes, even the grass. There are trees made of taffy that grow jelly apples, bushes that sprout lollipops, mushrooms that spurt whipped cream, pumpkins filled with sugar cubes instead of seeds, jelly bean stalks, and spotty candy cubes. The main icon of the room is the Chocolate River, where the chocolate is mixed and churned by the waterfall, but must not be touched by human hands. Willy Wonka proclaims, “There is no other factory in the world that mixes its chocolate by waterfall.” Pipes that hang on the ceiling come down and suck up the chocolate, then send it to other rooms of the factory, such as the Fudge Room, and Augustus Gloop is sucked into one pipe after falling into the river while drinking from it.

The Inventing Room

The Inventing Room is the second room that the tour goes through. Mr. Wonka states that all of his ideas are simmering and bubbling in this room, and that Slugworth would give his false teeth to stay five minutes inside. This room is home to Wonka’s new—and still insufficiently tested—candies, such as Everlasting Gobstoppers, Hair Toffee, and Wonka’s greatest idea so far, Three-Course Dinner Chewing Gum. This candy is a three course dinner all in itself, containing, “Tomato soup, roast beef and baked potato, and blueberry pie and ice cream”. However, once the chewer gets to the dessert, the side effect is that they turn into a giant “blueberry”; this happens to Violet Beauregarde after she rashly grabs and consumes the experimental gum.

Violet is subsequently taken to the Juicing Room “to be squeezed like a small pimple” to get the juice out. The tour then leaves the Inventing Room.

The Nut Sorting Room

The Nut Sorting Room is the third room on the tour. This room is where Wonka uses trained squirrels to break open good walnuts for use in his sweets. All rotten, unripe or stinky walnuts are thrown down a garbage chute which leads to an incinerator. Veruca Salt desperately wants a squirrel, but becomes furious when Wonka tells her she cannot have one. She tries to grab a squirrel for herself, but it rejects her as a “bad nut” and an army of squirrels haul her across the floor and throw her down the garbage chute. Wonka assures her father that she is stuck on top of the garbage chute, and while Mr. Salt is looking for her in the chute, the squirrels push him in as well.

In the 1971 movie version, the nut sorting room is an egg room, with large geese laying golden chocolate eggs. The sorting mechanism is the same, but Veruca places herself on the mechanism while trying to get a goose. However, in the 2005 movie version, it had followed the original storyline with Veruca wanting a squirrel and being rejected and thrown down a garbage shute.

The Television Room

The Television Room is home to Wonka’s latest invention, Television Chocolate, where they take a giant bar of Wonka chocolate and shrink it, then send it through the air in a million pieces to appear in a television. The bar can be taken from the screen, and even consumed. Charlie notes that the chocolate is “still delicious.” Mike Teavee is amazed at this new discovery, and attempts to send himself through television, resulting in him being shrunk down to be no more than an inch high. Wonka suggests that he be put through the Gum Stretcher, where he tests the stretchiness of gum. He also planned to give him vitamins, notably Vitamin Wonka. The Oompa Loompas escort Mr. Teavee and his newly short son to the Gum Stretcher.

In the 2005 and 1971 movie versions, Mike Teavee is stretched by the Toffee Puller. Also, in the 1971 version, Mike comes to the factory with his mother, not his father.

Other rooms

Other rooms, mentioned but not visited, are listed below in alphabetical order. Each is given the name of the product it contains, which is presumably made or extracted there.

* Butterscotch and Buttergin
* Candy-Coated Pencils for Sucking
* Cavity-Filling Caramels: “No more dentists!”
* Coconut-Ice Skating Rinks
* Cows that give Chocolate Milk
* Devils Drenchers to set your breath alight
* Eatable Marshmallow Pillows
* Exploding Candy for your Enemies
* Fizzy Lemonade Swimming Pools
* Fizzy Lifting Drinks
* Glumptious Globgobblers: “all the perfumed juices go squirting down your throat”
* Hot Ice Creams for Cold Days
* Invisible Chocolate Bars for Eating in Class
* Lickable Wallpaper for Nurseries
* Luminous Lollies for in Bed at Night
* Magic Hand-Fudge: “When you hold it in your hand, you taste it in your mouth!”
* Mint Jujubes for the Boy Next Door: “They’ll give him green teeth for a month!”
* Rainbow Drops: “Suck them and you can spit in six different colors!”
* Scarlet Scorchdroppers: “makes the person who sucked them feel as warm as toast”
* Stickjaw for Talkative Parents
* Strawberry-Juice Water Pistols
* Square Candies that Look Round
* Pishlets for children who can’t whistle
* The Rock-Candy Mine: “10,000 feet deep!”
* Toffee-Apple Trees for Planting out in your Garden
* Wriggle-Sweets that Wriggle Delightfully in your Tummy after Swallowing

Controversy and Original Story : Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Book by Roald Dahl

Responding to criticisms from the NAACP, Canadian children’s author Eleanor Cameron, and others for the book’s portrayal of the Oompa Loompas as dark skinned and skinny African pygmies who worked in the factory for cacao beans, Dahl changed some of the text, and Schindelman replaced some illustrations (the illustrations for the British version were also changed). That new version was released in 1973 in the USA. In the revised version the Oompa Loompas are described as having funny long golden-brown hair and rosy-white skin. Their origins were also changed from Africa to fictional Loompaland. Other minor changes appeared in the new version, notably the replacement of pre-decimal with decimal money.

The original book was Charlie’s Chocolate Boy and was about ten horrid children who won tickets to the weekly Wonka’s Factory visit. Roald completely re-wrote it when his nephew Nicholas said “Uncle Roald, I don’t like it at all”.

Lost Chapter : Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Book by Roald Dahl

In 2005, a short chapter which had been removed during the editing of the book circulated, entitled “Spotty Powder”, was published. The chapter featured the elimination of Miranda Piker, a “teacher’s pet” with a headmaster father. Wonka introduces the group to a new candy that will make children temporarily appear sick so that they can miss school that day, which enrages Miranda and her father. They vow to stop the candy from being made, and storm into the secret room where it is made. Two screams are heard, and Wonka agrees with the distraught Mrs. Piker that they were surely ground into Spotty Powder, and were indeed needed all along for the recipe, as “We’ve got to use one or two schoolmasters occasionally or it wouldn’t work.” He then reassures Mrs. Piker that he was joking. Mrs. Piker is escorted to the boiler room by the Oompa-Loompas, who sing a short song about how delicious Miranda’s classmates will find her.

Derivations : Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Book by Roald Dahl

The book was first made into a feature film as a musical titled Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, directed by Mel Stuart, produced by David L. Wolper and starring Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka, character actor Jack Albertson as Grandpa Joe and Peter Ostrum as Charlie Bucket. Released worldwide on June 30, 1971 and distributed by Paramount Pictures, the film had an estimated budget of $3 M. The movie grossed only $4 M and was considered a box-office flop. Like many films based on books, there were several notable differences in the film from the book. For example, Charlie’s father did not appear in the film as he was dead, the fake ticket was the “final” ticket and was “found” by a Paraguayan man rather than the “second” ticket being “found” by a Russian woman, Charlie misbehaved as well and was nearly removed himself, the other four children were accompanied around the factory by just one of their parents rather than both parents, the “nut” room was changed to the “egg-laying” room and the film did not show the final fates of the bad children after they were removed. Most notably, a morality test and a contract came attached to the Golden Tickets to determine the worth of the finders.

Another film version, entitled Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and directed by Tim Burton, was released on July 15, 2005; this version starred Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka and Freddie Highmore as Charlie Bucket. The Brad Grey production was a hit, grossing about $470 M worldwide with an estimated budget of $150 M. It was distributed by Warner Bros. this time. The 1971 and 2005 films are consistent with the written work to varying degrees. The Burton film in particular greatly expanded Willy Wonka’s personal backstory. Both films likewise heavily expanded the personalities of the four “bad” children and their parents from the limited description in the book. There were further differences in this film version from the book, including the fact that Mike Teavee was also obsessed by video games and the Internet as well as television (the book pre-dates home computers and video games) and provided an explanation of how he found his Golden Ticket; this was never explained in the book nor the 1971 film.

It has also been produced by Swedish Television as still drawings narrated by Ernst-Hugo Järegård.

Concurrently with the 2005 film, a line of candies was introduced in North America, Europe and Oceania that uses the book’s characters and imagery for its marketing. Presently sold in in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, the candies are produced in the United States, New Zealand, the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Brazil, by Nestlé.

In 1985, the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory video game was released for the ZX Spectrum by developers Soft Option Ltd and publisher Hill MacGibbon.

On July 11, 2005, the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory video game was released for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, Nintendo GameCube, Nintendo DS, Wii, Game Boy Advance and Windows PC by developers Backbone and High Voltage Software and publisher 2K Games.

On 1 April 2006, the British theme park Alton Towers opened a family boat ride attraction themed around the story. The ride features a boat section where guests travel around the chocolate factory in bright pink boats on a chocolate river. In the final stage of the ride, guests will enter one of two glass elevators where they will join Willy Wonka as they travel the factory, eventually shooting up and out through the glass roof.

Awards and Nominations : Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Book by Roald Dahl

* New England Round Table of Children’s Librarians Award (USA 1972)
* Surrey School Award (UK 1973)
* Millennium Children’s Book Award (UK 2000)
* Blue Peter Book Award (UK 2000)

Plays/Musicals : Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Book by Roald Dahl

This book has often been adapted as plays and/or musicals. These are often titled “Willy Wonka” or “Willy Wonka Jr.”. They almost always feature musical numbers by all the main characters (Wonka, Charlie, Grandpa Joe, Violet, etc.).

ISBN Number : Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Book by Roald Dahl

* ISBN 0-394-81011-2 (hardcover, 1973, revised Oompa Loompa edition)
* ISBN 0-87129-220-3 (paperback, 1976)
* ISBN 0-14-031824-0 (paperback, 1985, illustrated by Michael Foreman)
* ISBN 1-85089-902-9 (hardcover, 1987)
* ISBN 0-606-04032-3 (prebound, 1988)
* ISBN 0-89966-904-2 (library binding, 1992, reprint)
* ISBN 0-14-130115-5 (paperback, 1998)
* ISBN 0-375-81526-0 (hardcover, 2001)
* ISBN 0-375-91526-5 (library binding, 2001)
* ISBN 0-14-240108-0 (paperback, 2004)
* ISBN 0-8488-2241-2 (hardcover)

Book Review : Matilda Book by Roald Dahl

Matilda is a little girl who is far too good to be true. At age five-and-a-half she’s knocking off double-digit multiplication problems and blitz-reading Dickens. Even more remarkably, her classmates love her even though she’s a super-nerd and the teacher’s pet. But everything is not perfect in Matilda’s world. For starters she has two of the most idiotic, self-centred parents who ever lived. Then there’s the large, busty nightmare of a school mistress, Mrs (“The”) Trunchbull, a former hammer- throwing champion who flings children at will and is approximately as sympathetic as a bulldozer. Fortunately for Matilda, she has the inner resources to deal with such annoyances: astonishing intelligence, saintly patience and an innate talent for revenge.

She warms up with some practical jokes aimed at her hapless parents, but the true test comes when she rallies in defence of her teacher, the sweet Miss Honey, against the diabolical Trunchbull. There is never any doubt that Matilda will carry the day. Even so, this wonderful story is far from predictable – the big surprise comes when Matilda discovers a new, mysterious facet of her mental dexterity. Roald Dahl, while keeping the plot moving imaginatively, also has an unerring ear for emotional truth. The truly reader cares about Matilda because, in addition to all her other gifts, she has real feelings.

Matilda is a novel by Roald Dahl and illustrated by Quentin Blake. It was first published in London in 1988 by Jonathan Cape, and was adapted into a film in 1996.

Plot : Matilda Book by Roald Dahl

The parents of three-and-a-half-year-old Matilda Wormwood have no interest in their daughter. Her father, Mr Wormwood, runs a used-car business, but cheats his customers by putting sawdust in the engine so that temporarily the car runs smoothly. Mrs Wormwood watches television all day, and has no interest in the astonighing intellect of her youngest child Matilda. Although she exhibits strong signs of being a child prodigy, they pressure her to watch television instead of her preferred activity of reading. Matilda, undaunted, goes to the library and, under the watchful eyes of the librarian, Ms. Phelps, reads every single children’s book in the library. Matilda then moves on to reading adult classics such as Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations, as well as the works of Rudyard Kipling, Jane Austen, and George Orwell. When Matilda correctly answers a difficult arithmetic problem and her parents accuse her of cheating, she decides to take revenge on them through a series of pranks. She puts some superglue in her father’s hat, convinces her family that there is a ghost in the house (in reality, a talking parrot that Matilda has borrowed from a friend), and switches her father’s hair tonic with her mother’s peroxide dye. The parents thankfully never suspect that Matilda is behind these pranks.

After witnessing Matilda’s great intellect in the classroom, her benevolent teacher, Jennifer “Jenny” Honey, appeals to have Matilda moved up, but the cold and bitter headmistress, Miss Trunchbull, refuses. Miss Trunchbull’s treatment of her students is nothing short of child abuse, throwing children out of windows and locking wrongdoers in a closet lined with spikes, called “The Chokey.” She gets away with it because the stories of her abuse sound too far-fetched for parents to believe. Trunchbull also tries to exploit students’ weaknesses, forcing an overweight child called Bruce Bogtrotter who stole her cake to eat a gigantic, multi-layered chocolate confection in one sitting in front of the entire school – and he succeeds, much to her annoyance. Miss Trunchbull stops short of physically beating (hitting them with belts) the children only because it is now illegal – she frequently expresses annoyance that she is no longer able to punish children in this manner. To make matters worse for Matilda, Miss Trunchbull has bought a defective used car from Matilda’s father and because of this has developed an irrational hatred for Matilda.

Meanwhile, Matilda discovers she has psychokinetic powers (this is explained as Matilda’s tremendous mental prowess, after being repressed by her parents and in the classroom, seeking another outlet for itself). She learns this inadvertently when her best friend, Lavender, puts a newt in Miss Trunchbull’s water glass, and Matilda somehow tips the glass over with her mind. Matilda confesses this to Miss Honey, who is surprised to learn of Matilda’s powers. Miss Honey invites Matilda to her cottage for further conversation. She lives in poverty, after being cheated out of her inheritance by Miss Trunchbull, who turns out to be her own aunt. When Matilda learns of how Miss Trunchbull mistreated Miss Honey for years on end, she formulates a plan – using her new psychokinetic powers – to get rid of the Trunchbull for good.

When Miss Trunchbull pays her next visit to Miss Honey’s classroom, Matilda uses her powers to lift a piece of chalk and write with it on the blackboard. Posing as the spirit of Miss Honey’s dead father Magnus (who was thought by the officials to have commited suicide, though the book and movie both suggest that he may have actually been murdered), Matilda writes a message promising grisly revenge against Miss Trunchbull (and strongly implying that Miss Trunchbull herself murdered Magnus) unless she gives Miss Honey her due inheritance. Terrified by this seemingly supernatural apparition, Trunchbull collapses. The next day, Miss Trunchbull is found to have disappeared. Magnus reveals that Miss Honey is the rightful beneficiary to his property, and she moves back into her father’s house.

With the Trunchbull gone, Matilda is moved out of Miss Honey’s class and into an advanced grade, where she loses all of her powers. Miss Honey theorises that because Matilda is now being challenged in school, she no longer has the excess “brainpower” that allowed her to be psychokinetic. Meanwhile, the police are about to arrest Matilda’s father for selling stolen cars. He decides to move the whole family to Spain, but Matilda asks them to let her remain with Miss Honey. They agree, as it is less of a bother, and drive away leaving Matilda to live with Miss Honey.

Film Version : Matilda Book by Roald Dahl

The film version was directed by Danny DeVito who also narrates the film and plays the part of Harry Wormwood. Some plot points are shortened or removed, while new details and action sequences are added. Miss Honey’s poverty is not addressed; she lives fairly comfortably in her small cottage. Matilda is locked in “The Chokey” while the device is described briefly in the book. And Matilda breaks into the Trunchbull Mansion two times. The book goes into much greater detail about the list of the classical works that Matilda reads. It also goes into detail on how advanced Matilda is.

The film is modernized and Americanized as a retelling; it takes place in the United States instead of the Home counties of England as in the novel. Lavender is African-American only being described as a “skinny little nymph” in the book. A boy is thrown out the window for eating M&Ms in English class instead of liquorice allsorts during a Bible study class.

Smaller changes are those of ages, TV programs and the like. Matilda’s brother is changed from a more-or-less ordinary boy to a bullying, fat idiot. Their mother shows some humanity by giving her daughter away because she’s better suited for a life with Miss Honey, in the book, both parents drop their daughter like a rock. Trunchbull’s violence to children is also slightly mitigated. When Miss Trunchbull hurls Amanda Thripp over the fence, she lands safely. In the book version, she lands flat on her face and is bruised. In another moment, Bruce Bogtrotter successfully eats an entire cake without throwing up, furious, Miss Trunchbull forces everyone to stay five extra hours after school and copy from the dictionary; while in the book, she commands them furiously to leave the assembly room.

The most significant divergence is that Matilda’s powers are treated more as a conventional superpower and less as a miracle. The film and book both have her start by blowing up the Wormwoods’ cathode ray tube. In the film, Matilda eventually goes on to telekinetically control things at will whereas she doesn’t do so in the book. The final confrontation between Matilda and Miss Trunchbull is extended, in the book, Miss Trunchbull immediately leaves in fear of Magnus’ “ghost”. Characters in the book never lose their sense of awe and fear of Matilda’s telepathic powers, in the film, characters seem unaffected by this. In the book, Matilda loses her abilities afterward while in the film she still uses them to move objects.Taylor Lautner is in the movie.

Relations To Other Roald Dahl books : Matilda Book by Roald Dahl

* One of the Trunchbull’s means of punishments is forcibly to make an overweight boy by the name of Bruce Bogtrotter eat an enormous cake to try to make him sick after finding him guilty of stealing food from the kitchen (in many of Dahl’s novels there is a rude character that is overweight, Augustus Gloop for example). In Roald Dahl’s Revolting Recipes one of the recipes is based on that cake.

* Possibly the most dramatic form of eye-power attributed to any of Roald Dahl’s characters is The Grand High Witch from The Witches – although they are of a far more dangerous nature and the character would most likely have more sympathy with Miss Trunchbull’s attitude towards child justice.

Book Review : The Vicar of Nibbleswicke Book by Roald Dahl

The Vicar of Nibbleswicke is a children’s story written by Roald Dahl and illustrated by Quentin Blake. It was first published in London in 1991 by Jonathan Cape. The principal character is a dyslexic vicar, and the book was written to benefit the Dyslexia Institute in London (now Dyslexia Action), with Dahl and Blake donating their rights.

The Reverend Lee is suffering from a rare and acutely embarrassing condition: Back-to-Front Dyslexia, a fictional type of dyslexia that causes the sufferer to say the most important word (often being the verb) in a sentence backwards, creating comedic situations. For example, instead of saying knits, he will say stink; god would be dog etc. It affects only his speech, and he doesn’t realize he’s doing it. Reverend Lee doesn’t realise that his dyslexia is affecting his sermons His parishioners are at first amused and then shocked by the garbled messages coming from the pulpit. Finally a cure is found. The Vicar must walk backwards everywhere for the rest of his life), and the mild-mannered vicar can resume normal service.

ISBN Number : The Vicar of Nibbleswicke Book by Roald Dahl

* ISBN 0-14-034891-3 (paperback, 2004)
* ISBN 0-14-036837-X (paperback, 1994)

Book Review : Esio Trot Book by Roald Dahl

Mr Hoppy, a retired bachelor, harbours a secret passion for his neighbour, the lovely Mrs Silver. Unfortunately she lavishes all her affection on another… Alfie, her pet tortoise. Mr Hoppy’s wildly ingenious plot to defeat his rival and win the love of his lady will delight and amaze, involving, as it does a cryptic riddle and no fewer than a hundred and forty tortoises, large and small.

Plot : Esio Trot Book by Roald Dahl

Mr. Hoppy is a shy old man who lives alone in an apartment. For many years, he has been secretly in love with Mrs. Silver, a woman who lives below him. Mr. Hoppy frequently leans over his balcony and exchanges polite conversation with Mrs. Silver, but he is too shy to disclose how he feels. Mr. Hoppy longs to express his feelings to Mrs. Silver, but he can never bring his lips to form the words.

Mrs. Silver has a small pet turtle, Alfie, who she loves very much. One morning, Mrs. Silver mentions to Mr. Hoppy that even though she has had Alfie for many years, her pet has only grown a tiny bit and has gained only 3 ounces in weight. She confesses that she wishes she knew of some way to make her little Alfie grown into a larger, more dignified tortoise. Mr. Hoppy suddenly thinks of a way to give Mrs. Silver her wish and (he hopes!) win her affection.

Mr. Hoppy tells Mrs. Silver that he – in fact – does know of a way to make a tortoise grow bigger. He writes the following words on a slip of paper, and lowers it down to Mrs. Silver:

ESIO TROT, ESIO TROT,
TEG REGGIB REGGIB!
EMOC NO, ESIO TROT,
WORG PU, FFUP PU, TOOHS PU!
GNIRPS PU, WOLB PU, LLEWS PU!
EGROG! ELZZUG! FFUTS! PLUG!
TUP NO TAF, ESIO TROT, TUP NO TAF!
TEG NO, TEG NO, ELBBOG DOOF!

Mr. Hoppy explains that these magic words, when whispered in Alfie’s ear three times a day, will cause Alfie to grow bigger and bigger. Mrs. Silver is doubtful, but agrees to try.

Over the next few days, Mr. Hoppy carries out the second part of his plan. He visits every pet shop in the city, and buys many tortoises of various sizes, but none that weigh less than 13 ounces. Mr. Hoppy brings all the tortoises back to his apartment and installs them in a makeshift corral in his living room. Next, Mr. Hoppy builds a special tool to help him snatch the tortoise from Mrs. Silver’s balcony. He fastens a handle to the end of a long metal tube, and a tiny claw at the bottom. By pulling the handle, the arms of the claw gently open and close.

The following day, when Mrs. Silver leaves for work, Mr. Hoppy selects a tortoise from his living room that weighs exactly 15 ounces. He carefully picks Alfie up from the lower balcony, and exchanges him with the new tortoise. When Mrs. Silver returns home, she faithfully whispers the magic words in Alfie’s ear, but does not notice that an exchange has been made.

Over the next 8 weeks, Mr. Hoppy continues to switch Mrs. Silver’s current pet with a slightly larger tortoise, but she still does not perceive that her pet is growing in size. One afternoon, Mrs. Silver comments to Mr. Hoppy that Alfie seems a bit bigger, but cannot tell for sure. Suddenly, Mrs. Silver notices that Alfie can no longer fit through the door to his house, and exclaims to Mr. Hoppy that his spell is sure to be working! Mrs. Silver runs inside and weighs her pet, and is surprised to find that Alfie now weighs 27 ounces, more than double the weight he was before! Mr. Hoppy summons his courage and asks Mrs. Silver if he can come down and see the effect for himself. Mrs. Silver, in raptures over her pet’s transformation, gladly grants his request.

Mr. Hoppy races down the stairs, nervous and excited to be on the brink of winning Mrs. Silver’s heart. Mrs. Silver flings open the door, embraces Mr. Hoppy, and expresses her admiration for Mr. Hoppy’s magical spell. Mr. Hoppy, suddenly emboldened by Mrs. Silver’s warm smile, asks Mrs. Silver for her hand in marriage. Mrs. Silver delightedly accepts Mr. Hoppy’s proposal, then adds that she thought he would never get around to asking.

Mr. Hoppy secretly returns all the tortoises in his living room back to their respective pet shops, and Mr. Hoppy and Mrs. Silver are happily married a few weeks later.

ISBN Number : Esio Trot Book by Roald Dahl

* ISBN 0-224-06492-4 (paperback, 2003)
* ISBN 0-14-130464-2 (paperback, 2002)
* ISBN 0-14-131133-9 (paperback, 2001)
* ISBN 0-14-036099-9 (paperback, 2002)
* ISBN 0-14-034728-3 (paperback, 1991)
* ISBN 0-670-83451-3 (hardcover, 1990)
* ISBN 0-7857-0158-3 (library binding, 2002)