Crocs, idiots, evil teachers and giants (Roald Dahl in general)

Member Name: mjtodd

Product:	Roald Dahl in general
Date:	01/07/02 (29 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Funny, Great writer, Knew what the kids wanted

Disadvantages: Most of his books are for kids!

My favourite Roald Dahl book was The BFG and I still love it to this day. To me, Dahl took you away from boring normal life and showed you what kind of fun you could have.

I first came across Roald Dahl when I was seven when my teacher read the class The Enormous Crocodile. I thought it was one of the coolest books ever and managed to get my mum to buy me the book before we had even finished reading it in school. That book taught me a trick, which at that age I thought was really neat: in one part of The Enormous Crocodile, the croc, which eats kids, lay in the fun fair on one of the rides and pretended to be a dummy crocodile that was part of the ride. He closes his eyes slightly so people can't see him watching. Of course, I immediatly put this into practise when my parents came up to check I was asleep. Very nifty!

We also had The BFG read to us in Primary five when I was nine or ten. By then I was a convert. It wasn't long before I soon got my mitts on that book too thanks to my dad. What I loved about it was the fact that the BFG got his revenge on the other evil giants after they were so horrible to him. That one is probably what I sub-consciously wanted to do to the kids who picked on me in school!

Another one I liked was Matilda, which I got for my birthday. My favourite part was the bit where Matilda is able to move the chalk without touching it and scaring the willies out of Miss Trunchbull. I had a teacher like that in school too!

I didn't grow out of Dahl until I was well into my teens because he wrote a lot of stories geared towards adults as well as kids. I think I know 'Tales Of The Unexpected' and it's sequels rather well. Roald Dahl is definately an author I'll be introducing my own kids to when the time comes. It's thanks to his books that I developed a thirst for reading which lasts to this day.

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