The Magic Finger - Roald Dahl

If I had to pick one single writer whose books a child should read, it would have to be Roald Dahl. I spent many fun-filled hours reading his books aloud to my children when they were very young, and they read them again for themselves as soon as they were able to. The perfect one to begin with, as it is not overly long, is 'The Magic Finger'. The heroine is a girl who can zap people with her finger with drastic results. We are never actually told what the girl's name is, but that doesn't seem to matter. She discovers early on the special power that she has in one of her index fingers which comes into force when she gets particularly angry. She uses it at ...  Read the complete review

I have always been a massive fan of Roald Dahl Stories. Right from when I was very little I appreciated how well written they were, how wonderful the illustrations were and how entertaining the stories were. And I must confess, I still enjoy them even now! "The Magic Finger" is one of the less famous Roald Dahl books and even I only heard of it a couple of years ago. I had never read it until recently when, in a moment of nostalgia, I decided to regress to my childhood a little bit. The story is ideal for children who are still learning to read and need something a bit more challenging to help them up the ladder and get more confident. It ...  Read the complete review

“The farm next to ours is owned by Mr and Mrs Gregg. The Greggs have two children, both of them boys. Last week, something very funny happened to the Gregg family. I am going to tell you about it as best I can.” And so starts the tail of the magic finger as told by the nameless protagonist of the title, an eight year old girl with an amazing secret, she has a dysfunctional digit, a fantastical finger that can inflict untold problems for those that upset her in any way. Just ask poor old Mrs Winter; Mrs Winter no doubt rues the day she decided to pick on the girl in her class, and she must regret chastising the girl when she spelt cat (k–a–t) incorrectly. That ...  Read the complete review

I like Dahls's books and although they are supposed to be for children, personally I think that they can also appeal to adults, at least adults like me who never really wanted to grow up and may be have never fully grown up anyway. The main character is a girl who has magic powers in her finger. I do not think I should give away any part of the plot, since this is the beauty of it. Basically this is a book to let your phantasy run free. The girl discovers that she can have an impact on the people around her simply by pointing the finger to her, and she ends up affecting few of the people who are relevant in her life, starting from her teacher! ...  Read the complete review