Tag: Roald Dahl

Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator

Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator

by Roald Dahl (Alfred A. Knopf, 1972); audiobook read by Douglas Hodge (Random House Audio, 2013)

Book cover: “Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator” by Roald Dahl (Alfred A. Knopf, 1972); audiobook read by Douglas Hodge (Random House Audio, 2013)

A protracted example of Dahl’s rollicking lunacy, though in this instance lacking a greater storyline to lend substance beyond the jovial alien invasion, American caricaturing, silly rhymes, and terrible comeuppances visited upon cantankerous adults. Douglas Hodge narrates a suitably mercurial Willy Wonker.

The Beast and the Bethany

The Beast and the Bethany

by Jack Meggitt-Phillips (Egmont, 2020); audiobook read by Barnaby Edwards (Bolinda, 2020)

Meggitt-Phillips_Beast Bethany

A macabre mid- middle-grade romp very much of the Roald Dahl school. The humour is dark, the protagonists are anti-heroes and the Beast itself is suitably vile. The eccentricity, however, feels more mapped-out than off-the-cuff. Barnaby Edwards puts in a good performance.

 

 

Rhyme Stew

Rhyme Stew

by Roald Dahl; ill. Quentin Blake (Jonathan Cape, 1989)

Dahl_Rhyme Stew

Lame poetry that, otherwise treated, could have become classic illustrated short stories. Dahl’s rhymes are too simplistic for grown-ups, yet too adult for young readers (the cover explicitly says so, though everything else about the book’s presentation screams ‘children’). A perplexing offering.

 

 

The Witches

The Witches

by Roald Dahl (Jonathan Cape, 1983); audiobook read by Miranda Richardson (Penguin, 2013)

Dahl_Witches

Scary and horrid and yet rather wondrous and fun, Roald Dahl’s take on witches remains a classic of middle grade fiction. Miranda Richardson’s audiobook reading is nicely pitched (notwithstanding her overly grating Grand High Witch and some oddly lacklustre, unnecessary sound effects).

 

 

The Magic Finger

The Magic Finger

by Roald Dahl (Harper & Row, 1966); audiobook read by Roald Dahl (HarperCollins, 2002)

Dahl_Magic Finger

Instructive though it is to hear Roald Dahl reading his own work, the fact remains that ‘The Magic Finger’ is a very slight, somewhat misnamed little story. A hunter receives his comeuppance overnight when he and his family are turned into ducks.

 

 

The Enormous Crocodile

The Enormous Crocodile

by Roald Dahl (Jonathan Cape, 1978); audiobook read by Stephen Fry (Puffin, 2013)

Dahl_Enormous Crocodile

A classic safe scare for young middle grade readers, the audiobook stripped of Quentin Blake’s illustrations but enhanced in compensation by Stephen Fry’s delivery (albeit that the background soundscape becomes tiresome, especially when signifying the crocodile’s trademark ‘secret plans and clever tricks’).

 

 

George’s Marvellous Medicine

George’s Marvellous Medicine

by Roald Dahl (Jonathan Cape, 1981); audiobook read by Derek Jacobi (Penguin, 2013)

Dahl_George's Marvellous Medicine

Despite this being one of Dahl’s less substantial (yet somehow belaboured) stories, the freewheeling absurdity of George’s concoction and the subsequent karmic comeuppance to his grandma will appeal to middle grade readers. Derek Jacobi narrates with the glee of a mischievous grandparent.

 

 

Matilda

Matilda

by Roald Dahl (Jonathan Cape, 1988); audiobook read by Kate Winslet (Puffin, 2013)

Dahl_Matilda

If Roald Dahl is one of the great middle grade writers, and Matilda one of his greatest books, then Kate Winslet takes us into the greatness stratosphere with her brilliant and definitive reading, making Matilda, Miss Honey and the Trunchbull truly unforgettable.

 

 

The BFG

The BFG

dir. Steven Spielberg (2016)

Spielberg_The BFG

Adapted faithfully from Roald Dahl’s classic, the BFG is perhaps more a nostalgia piece than a film to captivate those (neglected viewers) who be not having read the book. Amidst the cinematographic magic, the Big Friendly Giant’s infelicious, malaproposterous neologerising delights most.