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...
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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.
Dulwich Divorcee sent me some headphones for the 5 year old recently. They were too small for her big girls. Waste not want not, that’s our motto.
Since they arrived the 5 year old has become as one with my ipod. She loves music and seems to pick up lyrics really easily (unlike me). She and the 3 year old have their own playlists; the 5 year old’s mostly consisting of Abba, Mika, Disney and some other bits and bobs.
Lately she’s been listening to music before she goes to bed on and... Read Full Story
LONDON (Reuters Life!) - A tale about a grumpy but loveable cat and a story recounting the madcap adventures of a town of oddballs were the winners of this year's Roald Dahl Funny Prize announced at a ceremony in London on Tuesday. "Mr. Pusskins Best in Show" by Sam Lloyd won the prize named after much-loved British children's author Dahl in the category for six-year-olds and younger, while "Grubtown Tales: Stinking Rich and Just Plain Stinky" by Philip Ardagh and illustrated by Jim Paillot... Read Full Story
By Jennet Conant Simon & Schuster Conant, a former journalist, is a thorough researcher. In this book, she digs into the secret wartime propaganda work that Roald Dahl and his British colleagues were assigned to do to drum up American support for World War II. Many official documents about this secret ring of spies were only declassified in 1998, and many of them remain legally inaccessible—and the author notes the difficulty of having to distinguish who is telling tall tales about their... Read Full Story
In this week's roundup, we learn the winners of the Roald Dahl Funny Prize, think about black-and-white books, and contemplate a Harry Potter all-breakdancing musical:
What do Harry Potter, Michael Jackson's "Thriller," and Wal-Mart have in common? So I'm just going to ask this once: What more do I need to say to convince you to watch a video clip other than "Dumbledore breakdances at 5:05"? Like almost every video on the Internet (the Mexican Cat Dance excluded), it's probably a little... Read Full Story
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory , Actor Jamie Campbell and Karen Elson
Continuing on with British Vogue 's Fantastic Fashion Fantasy issue, Tim Walker shot an editorial tribute to the "marvellous, mischievous, magical world" of Roald Dahl, accompanied by a written piece by his great-granddaughter, model and author, Sophie Dahl. It featured Tim Burton and Helena Bonham Carter, but my favourites of this vast spread happened to not include them! What I love most about Tim Walker's photos... Read Full Story
In this week's roundup, we find out about Roald Dahl's literally undercover wartime activities, read an interview with author and blogger Laurel Snyder, and learn the last name of a certain Jack:
Roald Dahl, celebrated children's literature author, hunky super-spy. Wow, check this out:
He is known to the world as the author of bestselling children’s books such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach . Yet before he became a successful writer, Roald Dahl had a... Read Full Story
In this week's roundup, we witness inspiration by the likes of Roald Dahl, Bob Dylan, and SuperPaint:
The Roald Dahl Funny prize. UK children's laureate Michael Rosen ( We're Going on a Bear Hunt ) founded the Roald Dahl Funny prize , which rewards "the most hilarious children's authors." You have to love the frank and fairly funny rationale behind it:
"I have sat on judging panels before and what happens is that the funny books get squeezed out, because somehow or other they don't... Read Full Story
Okay, I know what you’re thinking. Why would a horror blog concentrate its latest installment on Roald Dahl, the esteemed author of numerous children’s books that include “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”, “Matilida” and “James and the Giant Peach”?
The answer is simple. Roald Dahl had a darker, sinister side he displayed in writings that were purposely steered away from innocent grade-school children toward a far different market – adults. Indeed, it is a macabre treat to... Read Full Story
I Effing Love This Book
It never fails to amaze me just how stupid human-beings can be. Everyday our rights are slowly being taken away. You see it in the news all the time “a crime is committed” and before the person even reaches the stand they are tried and convicted by the media.
In Washington DC, our nations capital; people march, they wave banners, and protest to keep their First Amendment Rights from being taken away from them. Yet, people are still allowing Books to be banned... Read Full Story
Would you like to poke around in Roald Dahl’s garden hut in which he did most of his writing? When he was alive, nobody else was allowed in, but now you can visit—virtually. You can click on objects like his chair and wastepaper basket to get more information, and move around using a set of arrows. However, this feature seems to work correctly only on Internet Explorer—when I tried Safari and Firefox, I didn’t get very far. The site features also features early drafts of “Charlie and the... Read Full Story
