The Twits is a grotesquely, humorous children’s book written by Roald Dahl and illustrated by, no other than, Quentin Blake. It was written in 1979, and first published in 1980. The Twits was adapted for the stage in 2007. The idea of The Twits was triggered by Dahl’s desire to “do something against beards“, because he had an acute hatred of them.

The first sentence of the story is, “What a lot of hairy-faced men there are around nowadays!” Nowadays, beards have come back into fashion, making it a story that relates to the present, in its finest details.

The is a story about a couple of horrible, nasty, mean and disgusting twits called The Twits and the rotten tricks they play on one another. They hate everything—except playing mean jokes on each other, catching innocent birds so they can make their favourite Bird Pies, and making their caged monkeys, stand on their heads all day. But the monkeys (the Muggle-Wumps) have had enough. It’s time for their revenge!  It is a funny story, with a quickly unfolding plot; very appealing to children with recommended reading age range 7-11 years.

The Twits features, my favourite, and one of the most-quoted phrases in all of Roald Dahl’s books:

Personally I find it to be a funny book, period. Whether 7 or 77 years old, I will still find it a funny book with a satisfying ending! Highly recommended reading for all. If you haven’t read it, what are you waiting for..??

Teachers, wonderful teaching resources to be found on the Roald Dahl site click here to go to the page.

Pupils, what do you think of this book?