Roald Dahl

Here you'll find the wikizine for Roald Dahl whose influence on the childhood fantasies of Gen-Xers makes him almost the Gen-X Dr. Seuss. Except Dahl is more grim, like the Brothers Grimm – and his stories are full of bonecrunching and... [more]

Here you'll find the wikizine for Roald Dahl whose influence on the childhood fantasies of Gen-Xers makes him almost the Gen-X Dr. Seuss. Except Dahl is more grim, like the Brothers Grimm – and his stories are full of bonecrunching and child-eating and disposing of bad children down garbage chutes. Among his 19 children's books are The BFG, which became an animated film and has recently been produced as a play, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which, in addition to a play version, was adapted for two films -- the 1971 version starring Gene Wilder as the eccentric factory owner Willy Wonka and the 2005 version with Johnny Depp playing the role.

Born in Wales in 1916, Dahl loved to play with the sounds of language like his fellow countryman Dylan Thomas. Where Thomas created poetry, Dahl used his quirky ear to create vocabulary, words like gobstoppers, fleshlumpeaters and oompa-loompas.

As a WWII pilot, Dahl had his adventures and had probably seen the underbelly of the civilized world, as his books suggest. If you're looking for some kid reading, hold the syrup, then creative and funny Dahl might be right for your library.

Share Roald Dahl appreciation, criticism, trivia and historia here.