The Complete Short Stories: Volume One

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Roald Dahl is easily one of the most popular authors in the world. One Dahl book is sold every 2.6 seconds across the world and that is not all,he has sold over 300 million copies of his novels and short story collections. Due to their sheer popularity, his books have been translated into 63 different languages. If that isn’t enough to convince you that he is the one author your child deserves to read growing up, then here are some of his many masterpieces to change your mind. Dahl then turned primarily to writing the children’s books that would give him lasting fame. Unlike most other books aimed at a young audience, Dahl’s works had a darkly comic nature, frequently including gruesome violence and death. His villains were often malevolent adults who imperiled precocious and noble child protagonists. James and the Giant Peach (1961; film 1996), written for his own children, was a popular success, as was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964), which was made into the films Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005). His other works for young readers include Fantastic Mr. Fox (1970; film 2009), Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator (1972), The Enormous Crocodile (1978), The BFG (1982; films 1989 and 2016), and The Witches (1983; film 1990). One of his last such books, Matilda (1988), was adapted for film (1996 and 2022) and the stage ( 2010). By Christmas 1953, 7,500 copies of Someone Like You had been sold (which Knopf told Dahl was a record for short stories), and the book reached its fourth printing by February 1954. In April of that year, it won the Mystery Writers of America ‘Edgar’ award. During his years at Repton, the Cadbury chocolate company occasionally sent boxes of new chocolates to the school to be tested by the pupils. [46] Dahl dreamt of inventing a new chocolate bar that would win the praise of Mr Cadbury himself; this inspired him in writing his third children's book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964), and to refer to chocolate in other children's books. [47]

Dahl proved with this story how wonderful an element irony really is. Klara has just delivered her third child – small in size but healthy. However, the death of her other two children has instilled in her a deep fear – leading her to pray hard for Adolph’s long life. And in a cruel twist, her child lives – only to let millions die. cdn 8. Royal Jelly low over the field at midday we saw to our astonishment a bunch of girls in brightly coloured cotton dresses standing out by the planes with glasses in their hands having drinks with the French pilots, and I remember seeing bottles of wine standing on the wing of one of the planes as we went swooshing over. It was a Sunday morning and the Frenchmen were evidently entertaining their girlfriends and showing off their aircraft to them, which was a very French thing to do in the middle of a war at a front-line aerodrome. Every one of us held our fire on that first pass over the flying field and it was wonderfully comical to see the girls all dropping their wine glasses and galloping in their high heels for the door of the nearest building. We went round again, but this time we were no longer a surprise and they were ready for us with their ground defences, and I am afraid that our chivalry resulted in damage to several of our Hurricanes, including my own. But we destroyed five of their planes on the ground. [64] After the Third World War (and before the all-destroying Fourth), an underground kingdom is whimsically ruled over by the leader of the Gremlins, who alternately bullies his subjects and appeases them with sweet fruits called snozzberries. Their misogyny (“the female of any type is always more scheming, cunning, jealous and relentless than the male”) anticipates that of many of Dahl’s later stories. After finishing his schooling, in August 1934 Dahl crossed the Atlantic on the RMS Nova Scotia and hiked through Newfoundland with the Public Schools Exploring Society. [51] [52] Anna Leskiewicz in The Telegraph, "Why we love the mischievous spirit of Roald Dahl". [120] James and the Giant Peach musical playing at the Young People's Theatre in Toronto, 2014

2. Poison

The strange and complex personality who created these quirky tales of love and revenge has been expertly unravelled in a fascinating new biography by Jeremy Treglown, published on 21st March by Faber & Faber. Roald Dahl is also well-regarded as a writer of macabre short stories for adults. Originally published in magazines including The New Yorker and Playboy, they’re best known from collections like Kiss Kiss and Someone Like You. Many were adapted for the classic TV series Tales of the Unexpected. They’re available in eight beautifully designed themed collections. Born to Norwegian parents in Wales in 1916, Roald first started his career as a spy, then worked as a fighter pilot, and even invented medical equipment. Initially, he was best known for his short stories and then in 1961 he shot to fame with James and the Giant Peach and many more brilliant children’s stories like The Twits and George’s Marvellous Medicine. Roald also wrote screenplays, including for classic movies like You Only Live Twice and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, both adapted from Ian Fleming novels.

The young Dahl received his earliest education at Llandaff Cathedral School. When the principal gave him a harsh beating for playing a practical joke, Dahl's mother decided to enroll her rambunctious and mischievous child at St. Peter's, a British boarding school, as had been her husband's wish. Discussing these stories in a recent article in the Times Literary Supplement, Frederic Raphael wrote: “There was a kind of camp in Dahl’s later outrageousness… No one else could have written ‘Bitch’— in which the hero is finally transformed into a walking, working phallus — without falling into tweeness or rising into pornography. The requirements of the marketplace served Dahl well; energy, rage, fancy, which might have taken monstrous wing — or been grounded entirely — were re-invested in toothsome ghoulishness.” In 1958, he had been commissioned by film producer, Edwin Knopf (his publisher’s half-brother), to select 24 supernatural stories for a TV series entitled Ghost Time. This was never made, but Dahl’s shortlist was the basis for his 1983 anthology.Mersa Matruh, Cairo, Spitfires over the Channel and the heroic exploits of RAF fighters in the first Greek campaign, all feature in these vivid stories. Everyone of them is concerned with the war in the air and its psychological effect on the men who fought it. The author recaptures the spirit of “those early days when we were fighting in Libya; one flew very hard in those days because there were not many pilots; they certainly could not send any out from England, because they were fighting the Battle of Britain”. This Dahl favorite, originally known as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as a book, starred Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka. An originally titled remake of the film, starring Johnny Depp, was released in 2005. 'The BFG' (1989, 2016) While his whimsical fantasy stories feature an underlying warm sentiment, they are often juxtaposed with grotesque, darkly comic and sometimes harshly violent scenarios. [10] [12] The Witches, George's Marvellous Medicine and Matilda are examples of this formula. The BFG follows, with the good giant (the BFG or "Big Friendly Giant") representing the "good adult" archetype and the other giants being the "bad adults". This formula is also somewhat evident in Dahl's film script for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Class-conscious themes also surface in works such as Fantastic Mr Fox and Danny, the Champion of the World where the unpleasant wealthy neighbours are outwitted. [76] [125] A UK television special titled Roald Dahl's Revolting Rule Book which was hosted by Richard E. Grant and aired on 22 September 2007, commemorated Dahl's 90th birthday and also celebrated his impact as a children's author in popular culture. [131] It also featured eight main rules he applied on all his children's books: Conant, Jennet (2008). The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington. London: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-0-7432-9458-4.