I feel that whatever I write about Roald Dahl and his books will be an understatement. However, I will do my best to portray my view of his amazing work. Roald Dahl is by far my favourite children’s author. As a child, I relished his books and I still remember, to this day, how I could not put them down until I had finished them. I am able to say that I have read all his books and I love each and every one, in its own special way. Two of them, The Witches and The Twits were read to me, during my primary years in London, by my unforgettable teacher Mrs. Dick. The images of the characters are still vivid in my mind, as are the emotions of laughter and skepticism, especially after hearing that:

“REAL WITCHES dress in ordinary clothes and look very much like ordinary women!” – Roald Dahl, The Witches

After that, all ladies were instantly suspicious…even my teacher and mother!

The Twits, I found to be grotesquely funny and was so happy with the righteous ending, I love it when justice prevails! I won’t spoil it though and tell you, you must read it yourself!  One quote from that story that has stuck with me to this day is:

“If a person has ugly thoughts, it begins to show on the face. And when that person has ugly thoughts every day, every week, every year, the face gets uglier and uglier until you can hardly bear to look at it. A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts it will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.”― Roald Dahl, The Twits

This is so accurate and timeless. In an age where appearance has wrongly become a thing of up-most importance, this message comes to put things in perspective. Just think about it and think about people you may have met who fit under those definitions. I am sure that many of you have met ugly people on the outside, who are beautiful on the inside and have also met beautiful people on the outside who are ugly people on the inside.

Keeping those in mind, think about: Who do you prefer…? Under those circumstances how important is appearance to you? Who would you choose to hang out with?

That’s just some food for thought for you…

Find out more about Roald Dahl on the official website http://www.roalddahl.com 

The next few posts will be devoted to his work, some of the most favourite children’s stories to this day. Stay tuned!