The Best Roald Dahl Books: Top Ten
Last year marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of one of Britain's best-loved and most-revered storytellers, Roald Dahl. Born to Norwegian parents in South Wales in 1916, Dahl produced a wealth of novels and poems adored by readers of all ages the world over.
Dahl was an air force wing commander, a medical inventor, a chocolate historian and even a Second World War spy. He wrote novels and short stories for audiences of all ages, along with poems and scripts (including Bond film You Only Live Twice and classic musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) but is best remembered for his quirky, macabre style of children's fiction.
To mark Dahl's centenary year and the arrival of Fantastic Mr Fox to Salford, we're taking a look at his most memorable novels. Does your favourite make our list?
10. The Enormous Crocodile (1978)
This classic picture book, illustrated by long-term Roald Dahl collaborator Quentin Blake, is set in Africa and depicts the escapades of a huge, greedy crocodile with an insatiable appetite for little children. Leaving his fellow crocs - who prefer to eat fish - beside the river, The Enormous Crocodile heads into town where he hatches several clever plans to use in order to catch his lunch.
9. The Twits (1980)
Everybody remembers The Twits - the hateful husband and wife who live together in a house with no windows. This story sees Dahl at his darkly-comic best, the plot revolving around Mr Twit playing hideous pranks on Mrs Twit and vice versa. The Twits had children everywhere squirming at the notion of having a frog in their bed, being served "wormy spaghetti" for tea or contracting a rare (totally fictional) condition called "The Shrinks."
8. The Giraffe, The Pelly and Me (1985)
A recurring theme in Dahl's books is that of sweets and sweet shops. Readers of Boy, the autobiography of Dahl's youth, will know that much of his childhood revolved around the local sweet shop in Llandaff. Today, a blue plaque hangs at the site where Dahl pranked the "mean and loathesome" shopkeeper by putting a dead mouse in a jar of gobstoppers.
One of Dahl's more light-hearted tales, The Giraffe, The Pelly and Me follows the story of Billy, a young boy harbouring a burning desire to open a sweet shop in an abandoned building near his house. One day, however, Billy discovers the empty unit renovated and turned into a business entitled The Ladderless Window Cleaning Company. This being a Roald Dahl book, things soon take a turn for the surreal as Billy befriends the window cleaners who just so happen to be an anthropomorphic trio of a giraffe, a pelican and a monkey.
7. The BFG (1982)
The BFG (or "Big Friendly Giant") has been adapted into a stage play, comic strip and two films (the second directed by Steven Spielberg). The story begins when young orphan Sophie is lifted from her bed by a giant old man wielding a suitcase and a curious trumpet-like instrument. Transported to the BFG's cave, Sophie discovers a world of bizarre food such as snozzcumbers, flatulence-inducing drinks such as frobscottle and malevolent giants such as the Bloodbottler. Using the BFG's talent for dream-catching and recruiting the assistance of none other than The Queen herself, Sophie is able to rid the world of evil giants and establish herself as an international heroine.
6. Fantastic Mr Fox (1970)
One of Dahl's most successful and most-treasured novels tells the story of Mr Fox, a tricky genius and family man (well, family fox) who is involved in a long-standing feud with Boggis, Bunce and Bean, three dim-witted and rather unpleasant farmers. The more Mr Fox outsmarts the three farmers in order to steal food, the more irate and determined to get rid of him they become. Fantastic Mr Fox was adapted into a Hollywood movie in 2009, directed by Wes Anderson and starring George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray and Michael Gambon.
Now the live stage version is touring the UK and will play in Salford between 5th and 8th July. Music is provided by Arthur Darvill who recalls reading the entire book in one night whilst growing up. "It had a drastic impact on the way my world was shaped," he told Opening Night, "Dahl made the most disgusting things in life seem the most joyous."
5. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964)
Thanks to this classic, generations of children have found themselves checking for a golden ticket every time they open a bar of chocolate. One of Dahl's earliest books is inspired by the author's schoolboy experiences of testing products for large confectionery companies. It opens in the overcrowded, impoverished world of Charlie Bucket, who shares a tiny house with his parents and two sets of grandparents. Charlie's existence becomes a great deal more exciting when he discovers inside a bar of chocolate one of five golden tickets, entitling the holder to visit the mysterious factory of eccentric and legendary confectioner Willy Wonka. Accompanied by kindly Grandpa Joe and with four other obnoxious competition winners in tow, Charlie experiences the madcap and quite often incredibly dangerous workings of Wonka's factory. Modern health and safety inspectors would have a field day.
4. The Witches (1983)
As a child, this was a truly terrifying read. Dahl dials up the creepiness and the macabre to the very limit of what might be considered acceptable in a children's book. The plot begins with a seven year-old being sent to live with his grandmother after his parents die in a car crash. As if it were possible, things get even darker from here on in. Dahl introduces the reader to a world of evil, hideous witches who, disguised as everyday humans, seek to kill as many children as possible. Dahl's love for sweet shops appears once again - this time they are central to the Grand High Witch's plot to turn children into mice by offering them treats laced with "Formula 86 delayed-action mouse-maker." The transfigured victims would then be killed as vermin by unsuspecting adults. Thankfully, the witches are ultimately defeated, although the narrator is forced to live out the rest of his life as a mouse - something which (bizarrely) he seems quite content with.
3. James and the Giant Peach (1961)
Dahl's second children's novel again focuses on an orphaned child. This time James Henry Trotter is forced to live with his heartless aunts in an isolated hilltop house near the Cliffs of Dover after his doting parents are killed by...erm...an escaped rhinoceros rampaging around London. After years of sleeping on bare floorboards in the attic, James is offered a chance to find happiness by a mysterious man proffering magic "crocodile tongues." The tongues are spilled in the garden before James can consume them, however, and they instead cause a peach (along with four talking invertebrates) to grow overnight to a colossal size. Having befriended the humongous grasshopper, centipede, ladybird, earthworm, silk worm, glow worm and spider, James finds himself setting off on a transatlantic adventure of a lifetime. He encounters deadly sharks, spectral "cloud-men" and helpful seagulls all in the company of his new creepy-crawly family and all the time nourished by the delicious flesh of a massive exotic fruit.
2. Matilda (1988)
The novel behind what is arguably the finest film adaption of Roald Dahl's work follows the exploits of neglected six year-old genius, Matilda. Ignored by her parents, Matilda finds joy in literature. Incredulously enough, at the age of four she has read Great Expectations, Pride and Prejudice and Animal Farm among others. Matilda's other source of pleasure is to retaliate against her parents with ruthless pranks such as the super-gluing of her father's hat to his head. Never particularly lucky with adult authority figures, Matilda attends a primary school run by the callous and brutal Agatha Trunchbull, renowned for her terrifying teaching techniques and merciless punishments. When Matilda discovers she is gifted with strong telekinetic powers, she opts to use them to free her schoolmates and her kindly class teacher, Miss Honey, from the grasp of their sadistic headmistress.
1. Danny the Champion of the World (1975)
Our choice for number one might cause some controversy - it is the only one of Dahl's childrens stories that contains hardly any of his surreal and macabre trademarks. There are no talking animals, no cruel pranks, no sinister villains and no abusive relatives. Instead, Dahl introduces the reader to that quaint rural world of nine year-old Danny, who lives with his father, William, in a gyspy caravan. Despite his mother's death when he was very young and the odd caning from draconian schoolmaster Captain Lancaster (based on one of Dahl's own teachers), Danny lives a happy life assisting his father in the running of his filling station and taking the occasional illegal drive in his Austin Seven. William, it is discovered, is an ardent poacher of pheasants from the estate of pompous landowner Mr Victor Hazell. After he is injured in a trap, Danny helps his father take revenge by devising a plan to embarrass Hazell at his prestigious annual shooting-party. Using a hefty amount of raisins and narcotics, Danny ensures that the ensemble of dukes, lords and wealthy businessmen is left with no birds to aim their shotguns at. In doing so he humiliates Hazell and is hailed by the neighbours as "the champion of the world." Danny... is a breath of fresh air from Dahl, a joyous read which exalts life's simple pleasures and the touching relationship between a single father and his son.
Dahl was an air force wing commander, a medical inventor, a chocolate historian and even a Second World War spy. He wrote novels and short stories for audiences of all ages, along with poems and scripts (including Bond film You Only Live Twice and classic musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) but is best remembered for his quirky, macabre style of children's fiction.
To mark Dahl's centenary year and the arrival of Fantastic Mr Fox to Salford, we're taking a look at his most memorable novels. Does your favourite make our list?
10. The Enormous Crocodile (1978)
This classic picture book, illustrated by long-term Roald Dahl collaborator Quentin Blake, is set in Africa and depicts the escapades of a huge, greedy crocodile with an insatiable appetite for little children. Leaving his fellow crocs - who prefer to eat fish - beside the river, The Enormous Crocodile heads into town where he hatches several clever plans to use in order to catch his lunch.
9. The Twits (1980)
8. The Giraffe, The Pelly and Me (1985)
A recurring theme in Dahl's books is that of sweets and sweet shops. Readers of Boy, the autobiography of Dahl's youth, will know that much of his childhood revolved around the local sweet shop in Llandaff. Today, a blue plaque hangs at the site where Dahl pranked the "mean and loathesome" shopkeeper by putting a dead mouse in a jar of gobstoppers.
One of Dahl's more light-hearted tales, The Giraffe, The Pelly and Me follows the story of Billy, a young boy harbouring a burning desire to open a sweet shop in an abandoned building near his house. One day, however, Billy discovers the empty unit renovated and turned into a business entitled The Ladderless Window Cleaning Company. This being a Roald Dahl book, things soon take a turn for the surreal as Billy befriends the window cleaners who just so happen to be an anthropomorphic trio of a giraffe, a pelican and a monkey.
7. The BFG (1982)
6. Fantastic Mr Fox (1970)
One of Dahl's most successful and most-treasured novels tells the story of Mr Fox, a tricky genius and family man (well, family fox) who is involved in a long-standing feud with Boggis, Bunce and Bean, three dim-witted and rather unpleasant farmers. The more Mr Fox outsmarts the three farmers in order to steal food, the more irate and determined to get rid of him they become. Fantastic Mr Fox was adapted into a Hollywood movie in 2009, directed by Wes Anderson and starring George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray and Michael Gambon.
Now the live stage version is touring the UK and will play in Salford between 5th and 8th July. Music is provided by Arthur Darvill who recalls reading the entire book in one night whilst growing up. "It had a drastic impact on the way my world was shaped," he told Opening Night, "Dahl made the most disgusting things in life seem the most joyous."
5. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964)
4. The Witches (1983)
3. James and the Giant Peach (1961)
2. Matilda (1988)
The novel behind what is arguably the finest film adaption of Roald Dahl's work follows the exploits of neglected six year-old genius, Matilda. Ignored by her parents, Matilda finds joy in literature. Incredulously enough, at the age of four she has read Great Expectations, Pride and Prejudice and Animal Farm among others. Matilda's other source of pleasure is to retaliate against her parents with ruthless pranks such as the super-gluing of her father's hat to his head. Never particularly lucky with adult authority figures, Matilda attends a primary school run by the callous and brutal Agatha Trunchbull, renowned for her terrifying teaching techniques and merciless punishments. When Matilda discovers she is gifted with strong telekinetic powers, she opts to use them to free her schoolmates and her kindly class teacher, Miss Honey, from the grasp of their sadistic headmistress. 
1. Danny the Champion of the World (1975)Our choice for number one might cause some controversy - it is the only one of Dahl's childrens stories that contains hardly any of his surreal and macabre trademarks. There are no talking animals, no cruel pranks, no sinister villains and no abusive relatives. Instead, Dahl introduces the reader to that quaint rural world of nine year-old Danny, who lives with his father, William, in a gyspy caravan. Despite his mother's death when he was very young and the odd caning from draconian schoolmaster Captain Lancaster (based on one of Dahl's own teachers), Danny lives a happy life assisting his father in the running of his filling station and taking the occasional illegal drive in his Austin Seven. William, it is discovered, is an ardent poacher of pheasants from the estate of pompous landowner Mr Victor Hazell. After he is injured in a trap, Danny helps his father take revenge by devising a plan to embarrass Hazell at his prestigious annual shooting-party. Using a hefty amount of raisins and narcotics, Danny ensures that the ensemble of dukes, lords and wealthy businessmen is left with no birds to aim their shotguns at. In doing so he humiliates Hazell and is hailed by the neighbours as "the champion of the world." Danny... is a breath of fresh air from Dahl, a joyous read which exalts life's simple pleasures and the touching relationship between a single father and his son.
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| Roald Dahl at work. |
Fantastic Mr Fox plays in Salford between Wednesday 5th and Sunday 9th July. Suitable for ages 5+, this tale of greed, pride and the power of friendship is the flagship production of the Roald Dahl 100 celebrations and promises a huge theatrical feast, ideal for the whole family. Tickets are available from Quaytickets here.
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