THE MAGIC FINGER by ROALD DAHL

Author- Roald Dahl

Illustration- Quentin Blake

Publishing- puffinbooks.com

Rating- 4.5/5

Review by- VIDHI SETHI (13 yrs)

The Magic Finger by Roald Dahl, a delightful kidlit book is a sure pleasure to read. The story mainly revolves around the narrator and the Greggs. It starts by telling us about the unfortunate series of events that happen with Ms. Winter thanks to our dear narrator’s Magic Finger.

Our little 8yr old narrator hates hunting. Whenever she sees Mr. Gregg and his two sons, Philip and William hunting she gets really angry. Once she sees the trio bringing back a beautiful, golden deer that they had shot. As usual, she starts seeing red, gets hot all over and her finger begins tingling most terribly and unknowingly her Magic Finger touches the Greggs and the adventure begins. The whole family turns into ducks and spends the night in a nest on a tree eating slumburgers and wormburgers. The story continues with the Greggs finally understanding the fact that even birds love freedom and shouldn’t be hunted. The little narrator’s Magic Finger is very helpful in transforming the Greggs.

The book has a beautiful storyline and is worth a read. Complete with attractive pictures the story seems even better. It’s a wonderful example of Roald Dahl’s way of capturing the reader’s attention and making it extremely tough for him/her to keep the book down. It’s a really sweet and interesting book with a nice ending and a good moral. Once you read it, you'll sure bless me for suggesting this book to you. ;) 

THE WITCHES by ROALD DAHL

And just what does a paradoxically avid kid-lit reader, who already has some three big books banging hard due to their upcoming review submission deadlines and who is barely and that too, rarely getting any time to do anything sane off late, do, when she unexpectedly gets a day- forcibly away from work??

Yes! Read a Roald Dahl. What else.

And I mentioned 'paradoxically' basically because, although I believe myself to have read 'kidlit' the most, among all the reading that I have chanced upon, the book I picked up today is only the second of Roald Dahl. And all that, because of an autobiographical extract of the author, that we were made to understand at school, and which had become torturously boring due to repetition.

Anyway, past is past. All I understand today is the simple fact that eventually and finally, my roads have lead me to Roald Dahl, the king of kidlit.

And here's the review of the book for you... Enjoy...

Title: The Witches

Author: Roald Dahl

I can bet that you would not agree that old grandma's bedtime tales of witches and fairies, of lands far away and their kings could ever have been true. Yes, I can bet on it. Because so did I believe - or rather not believe in the truth behind the tales grannies told. Until I stumbled upon this book.

A little boy gets to live with his grandmother after he loses his parents to a road accident. The grandmother, or grandmumma, as the boy calls her, is a retired witchophile - someone who has studied witches and knows a lot about them. She tells him tales about how she has seen witches take little children away, what do the witches look like, how can they be spotted, what they like and what they want and so on.

The little child does not believe all this, until he is approached by a lady - who tames snakes and has all the signs of a witch that grandma has told him. Luckily he escapes this time. But not the next time. The next time he is the unfortunate victim of not one, but rather, some 84 witches tall and strong. Or so to say, all the witches of England and their overall administrative head put together. Poor boy! But no longer a boy. He gets transformed into a mouse!

The good thing, however is that incomplete magic allows him to communicate and he has already understood properly, the reality of witches and all the evil plans they have, for finishing all the kids of England.

One must surely read the book and find out whether the transformation into a mouse causes a sense of revenge to bloom in the little one, or he plans to embark on adventures that only mice can. Do read the book and find out what happens to the boy-turned-mouse eventually! Trust me, the book ends exactly as it must.

I love to read kid-lit mainly because it is a delight reading what grown-ups write for kids, what kids actually derive from it, what they are supposed to derive, and most importantly, what obvious lessons these books give that we generally overlook.

It is strange that simple things reveal so much. Through this book, aren't the kids being taught to try overcome their greed and not accept offerings by strangers. Aren't the kids being taught that it is okay if some misfortunes strike you. You must pick your pieces and move ahead.

Well, one thing that caught my notice was the behaviour of witches. Whatever may be the case, the evil wants to hide behind the garb of normalcy! Often, what appears to be the sweetest, may be the most evil thing around. Something like a sugar coated poison. But nonetheless, the good thing is that there is, more often than not, some good always working to undo the wrong. History illustrates, that ultimately in the long run, it is the good that can sustain.

So, Goodbye Witches!

Minpins by Roald Dahl

Title : Minpins

Author : Roald Dahl

Illustrator : Patrick Benson

Publisher : Puffin

ISBN : 978-0-141-50178-9

"Little Billy's mother was always telling him exactly what he was allowed to do and what he was not allowed to do. All the things he was allowed to do were boring. All the things he was not allowed to do were exciting.

One of the things that he was NEVER NEVER allowed to do, the most exciting of them all, was to go through the garden gate all by himself and explore the world beyond". 

Thus begins another adventurous tale spun by none other than the ace storyteller Roald Dahl whose imagination knows no bounds and who dares his readers to enter the magical worlds where anything and everything is possible.

So little Billy kept on looking at the garden gate longingly day after day, month after month, year after year but the lure of the world at the other side of the gate never mitigates in his mind. And one odd afternoon, a devil whispers in Billy's ears and instigates him to cross the garden gate to explore the lovely world that is alien to him. He makes Billy believe that there is no such thing as Hornswogglers and Snozzwanglers and Vermicious Knids and the Terrible Bloodsuckling Toothpuckling Stonechuckling Splitter about which Billy's mother often alarmed him.  Little Billy stops 'being good' and follows the advice of the devil whispering in his ears.  

He enters the forbidden forest and soon enough finds himself being chased by none other than the terrible snorting smoke-blowing, smelly breathed beast. Billy runs for his life and on finding a mysteriously low branch climbs on the tree and enters the world of green leaves and thick, smooth branches with no earth or sky in sight. As he rests there in peace for a while, he notices tiny little windows and doors opening up in the bark of the tree and many miniature faces staring at him.  He realizes that he is in an extraordinary strange world of tiny people who called themselves Minpins. Minpins had taken refuge in the hollows of the trees for the fear of Red-Hot Smoke-Belching Gruncher, who had grunched up hundreds of humans and millions of Minpins. They had special suction-boots which helped them walk up and down almost vertical branches without any trouble and the feathered birds were their friends and transporters with whom they had a beautiful symbiotic relationship.

But now with the fearsome Gruncher waiting for Billy under the tree how could Billy reach back home again? Can he help Minpins get rid of this Gruncher so that they enjoy their freedom once again? Read on to find that out.

The curtain draws on the adventurous story with these words - "Above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most likely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it."

These words capture the essence of life and how it should be approached with open senses and mind to experience the wonders all around us. 

All Things Dahl

13th September was Roald Dahl's birthday, and we at Zealot Readers would like to pay him a tribute. Here are two books that are brimful with fun facts that are as wacky as his books.

pic courtesy flipkart.

Spotty Powder and other Splendiferous Secrets
Compiled and illustrated by Quentin Blake
Publisher: Puffin (Pocket Money Puffin series)
Ages 6+

The book begins with a quote from his book The Minpins: “Above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most likely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.” 

This should be the guiding light for all who associate themselves with children’s books. Or any books at all. Or anything that raises one above the mundane. As Dahl’s books certainly do. He was a keen observer of his surroundings, human or otherwise, and each of the twelve chapters begins with his essay on the month or season.

Do you know…

…that there were as many as ten naughty children to feature in his most famous book Charlie and the Chocolate factory? These were to have names like Bertie Upside and Herpes Trout. Or that the Oompa-Loompas were to be called Whipple-Scrumpets?

…that the Roald Dahl-Quentin Blake partnership began in 1976, quite late in Dahl’s career, and that initially Blake was nervous about illustrating for such a famous writer?

…that Dahl kept two notebooks in which he pinned down any stray idea that entered his head, and that almost all his books came from these years later?

…that strange though it may seem to his readers, his English teacher at boarding school had written him off? “This boy is an indolent and illiterate member of the class.” “Vocabulary negligible, sentences malconstructed. Ideas limited.”

…that in the churchyard at Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, big friendly giant footprints lead to Roald Dahl’s grave?

pic courtesy flipkart

D is for Dahl

A gloriumptious A-Z guide to the world of Roald Dahl

Compiled by Wendy Cooling

Illustrations Quentin Blake

Publisher: Puffin books
Ages 8+

It begins with a smudged copy of the Dahl family tree on page 1. The next 149 pages are cram-filled with alphabetically arranged snippets that will warm the heart of even the most reluctant of readers. All things Dahl : personal life, his books, quirks, his literary associates, his working style, his opinions about everything he came across- it is all there, in bite-sizes, and embellished with the zany illustrations of his friend and long-time illustrator, Quentin Blake.

Some our favourites are the Random Roald Facts in boxes:

He wrote his first ever story at the age of 10, titled “Kumbak II” about a machine that could tune in to conversations from the past.

From an essay written by him at school, describing his teacher: “He’s a short man with a face like a fried elderberry, and a moustache which closely resembles the African jungle.” On his teacher's cane: “It wasn’t simply an instrument for beating you. It was a weapon for wounding.” Do you see Miss Agatha Trunchbull from Matilda?

No wonder his teachers were vexed with him!

Here is a review of a proper biography, Fantastic Mr Dahl, written by Michael Rosen, on Guardian Children's Books.

Crossposted at Saffrontree.