When I found out (late in the month ) that it was Roald Dahl Month, I knew that I had to at least do a little celebrating.  I asked for suggestions on what I should read and Tameka said James and the Giant Peach.  I love that one and actually requested it from the library.  Before it came in, I was at a thrift store and saw this one there, Danny Champion of the World.  I don’t remember ever reading or even hearing of it, so I knew that this was the one for me.

I frigging loved it.  Even though I had never read it before, it totally took me back.  I got completely caught up in Roald Dahl’s whimsical little fantasy world.  I feel like there are some children’s authors that have set out in their minds that they want their stories to have that kind of whimsy but it always just comes off seeming too forced.  With Roald Dahl, it seems perfectly natural.  I think that that is what sets him apart.

In Danny Champion of the World, Danny lives with only his father.  His mother died when he was four months old, leaving just the two of them.  They run a filling station and fix up cars in the garage.  They live out back in a gypsy caravan.  They are as happy as can be.  Danny’s dad takes time to teach him things, do experiments with him, play games, and tell him stories.  Danny looks up to and loves his dad wholeheartedly.

Over the course of the book, Danny and his dad team up to tick off the town bad-guy Mr. Vowell.  Their plan is to get his pheasants kind of doped up on sleeping pills and steal them off of his land.  Only Roald Dahl, folks, only Roald Dahl.

What I love here is the father/son relationship.  It’s beautiful.  They are best friends but Danny also respects him and looks up to him.  They are open with each other and it has fostered a real trust.  The parts where Danny is asking his dad questions about his mom is kind of gut wrenching and wonderful.  I think that every dad should have to read this when their sons are born and read it again, out loud, when their sons are about 8.  This is the kind of dad that dads should be and the kind of son that sons should be.

I feel like this is one of Roald Dahl’s more overlooked books.  If you haven’t read it, I recommend it highly.  So, so good.

I know that you guys have heard me wax nostalgic about a couple of Roald Dahl books since I’ve been blogging.  If you’ve read the “about” section of the blog, you may have noticed that my blog’s name comes from a Roald Dahl quote that I love:

“So please, oh please, we beg, we pray, go throw your t.v. set away. And in its place you can install a lovely bookcase on the wall.”

So I have no idea how I missed the fact that it’s officially Roald Dahl month until now, the 15th.  Dang.  I could have been celebrating all month!

If you’ve never checked out Roald Dahl’s website, please go there now.  If you are a teacher, it is a great resource. If you are just a big, nerdy fan, it is an adorable, fun timesuck.

After doing a little bit of googling, I found out that at different times in his life, Roald Dahl was a best-selling author, a fighter pilot,  a spy, the creator of some revolutionary medical technology, and the husband of an Oscar-winning actress and the father of five.  That, my friends, is why he gets a whole month.  Pretty sweet dude.

In honor of Roald Dahl Month, I’ll read and review one of his books between now and the end of the month.  Not sure which one yet. I’ve read Matilda and Charlie & the Chocolate Factory a ton of times.  I’d be up for something else. I know I read them all when I was younger but it’s been awhile.  What do you think?

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, by Roald Dahl

After reading and being absolutely obsessed with Matilda in elementary school, I made quick work of Roald Dahl’s other books.  I am fairly certain that I read all of them and can’t think of one that disappointed.  His kind of dark humor and belief that kids are smarter than we give them credit for won my heart then and make them stick in my head now.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was pretty much perfection in my opinion.  Snotty kids, clueless parents, a factory (if you know me, you know I have a think for factories…), tons and tons of candy,  tiny worker men?  Perfect.

This led to a total with the original movie when I was younger and unlike a lot of people, I loved the Johnny Depp one too.  The Gene Wilder one is probably in my top 10  movies, but I thought that the Johnny Depp one was probably closer to the movie and made me laugh out loud. A lot.

When I was in high school, I was at a friend’s house on the afternoon of trick-or-treat.  We were just sitting on the patio talking and saw a perfect little oompa loompa riding a bike down the street.  I freaked totally out and told Emily to go in and get a camera while I chased this kid down.  He panicked, as I’m sure I looked like a crazy person.  He rode his bike faster than I could run, so we got in the car and chased him down.  This sounds so crazy now, but at the time it was totally logical.  Anyway, when we “caught” him, we just took a few pictures with him and told him what a perfect oompa loompa he was.  The pictures turned out great, so I framed one and put it in my room, such is my love for Willy Wonka.

Probably a full year or two later, my younger brother had a friend over and they walked past my room.  His friend turned to him and said, “Dalton, why does your sister have a picture of me up in her room?”  Hilarious.  It was the little oompa loompa kid and I had successfully freaked him totally out… again.

All this to say that my love for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory actually turned me into a creeper. I love it.

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I remember my third grade teacher giving me a nice, shiny copy of this book and telling me that Matilda always reminded her of me.  I was immediately sold because: 1- it seemed like a huge, fat book at the time, which I have always loved, and 2- I loved my third grade teacher, Miss Dodson, with an undying passion. I thought she was the gentlest, sweetest, prettiest woman who had ever lived and I wanted to be just like her.

So, it turned out that Matilda was about this little girl who didn’t fit in with her family because her parents were crazy (true of mine, at the time) and her brother was dark and mean (also true of mine at the time).  She escaped by reading.  Her school principal was a complete nut and marched around glaring at kids.  All true of my life.  And then there was Miss Honey.  The gentlest, sweetest, prettiest teacher in the world.  And she loved Matilda and helped her fight all the evils in her life.  In fact, Matilda even ended up living with Miss Honey.  Was Miss Dodson saying she wanted me to live with her?! Did she want to adopt me?!  To this day, I still picture Miss Dodson’s house just how they described Miss Honey’s- a little cottage with a pretty garden all around it.

I think that I would have loved this book anyway because Matilda and I really did have a lot in common and nothing beats how Roald Dahl writes for kids- not like they are stupid, but as if, in fact, they are much smarter than the adults around them. The fact that this book had reminded my beloved teacher of me just put it over the top for me.  It will always be one of my favorite children’s books.

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