Today, as we head back to work and school for Autumn, I wanted to talk about Roald Dahl. He was my favourite author when I was a child in the 1980s and his work still resonates with me now. Roald Dahl’s books are culturally important and incredibly popular. His books are read widely in schools and his book collections are very popular amongst all ages, especially children.
He had such a busy life, in the airforce, working around the world and eventually writing for a living. Starting as a writer for adults, he then wrote a book for his daughters and began to produce brilliant kids’ books.
His stories were sometimes edgy, with strong characters who were usually quirky and unique. Often his books had powerful messages and really made the readers think about family values and what being a good person actually involved.
Here are five of my favourite Roald Dahl Books:
1) George’s Marvellous Medicine
This was peculiar because George mixed up some random household chemicals to make a powerful medicine for his grandma. It talked about the fact that families are not all perfect.
2) Matilda
Matilda’s teacher saw the very best in her even though her father didn’t. She overcame adversity in many different ways.
3) The Witches
This reminded me of my close relationship with my gran. The main character was turned into a mouse by some witches but his gran stood by him as he tried to get his own back.
4) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
This delightful tale is about a boy who wants to please his family. It is a story where good overcomes bad.
5) The Twits
In the Twits he wrote about a couple who were ordinary people until their ugly thoughts made them appear ugly. The message in this was clear.
Final Thoughts
So if you have never read one of the many brilliant Roald Dahl books, it is never too late to start. His stories are fun, totally entertaining and full of meanings. Hollywood is currently making a new version of Matilda and Roald’s work is repeatedly being remade into theatre and TV productions.
His characters are often very thoughtful, sometimes cheeky and usually easy to relate to. The settings are always interesting and the plots full of action, comedy and brilliant storytelling.
I hope that you will check out Road’s wonderful work and might also consider following my blog. To check out another article about reading, have a look at Are you an interactive reader? and drop a comment if you have time.
We love Matilda!
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I enjoy Roald Dahl books and many of the movie renditions, with Mathilda and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory among my favorites. The BFG is at the top of my list too!
Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Dahl is magical.
Love this! I loved Dahl’s books when I was younger, they’re so timeless and magical with such great messages! Thanks for reading and commenting.
I love Matilda. I love the film too. Thank you for sharing your blog post.
Lauren
We’re currently reading Fantastic Mr Fox. Small boy says he doesn’t like it but always asks for one more chapter.
Haha he likes it.
I saw the title of this post & had to read it. I studied some of the books during my a-levels & degree. My little one has the collection on her shelf & I want to read them all myself 😁
Yes they are fun.
I hadn’t heard of this author before so I’ll definitely be checking out this list of books! Thanks for sharing!
i LOVED Roald Dahl when I was younger! I had a huge collection of the hard back books signed by him! My favourites were Matilda, The Magic Finger, The BFG, oh dear I don’t think I can stop with my favourites! I was scared by the movies when I saw them though – I had nightmares for weeks after the Witches!
Yes it is hard to pick favourites. Thanks for commenting.
This post made me smile! I loved Roald Dahl books when I was younger and you’re so right that they all have a deeper meaning to them xx
Glad you agree. His writing is clever and hilarious.
I absolutely loved his books growing up! They were always so fun to read but also had good morals at the end. He also had a very interesting life himself. I’m pretty sure I read almost every book he’s written and Matilda is still one of my favourite books!
Yeh he wrote a book called Going Solo about his own adventures.
I don’t think I’ve ever read any of Roald Dahls books! I’ve watched Matilda & Charlie and the Chocolate Factory though. and loved them especially the latter.
probably would have been different if I had grew up in the 80s lol
Yeah I read that it was really interesting.