Maisha Islam Monamee
When it comes to children’s books, Roald Dahl is inarguably the first name that pops in our minds. Most of us have spent our childhood between his pages, on adventures with his lively characters. Be it the infamous chocolate factory or the giant peach, with unrealistic plot lines and even more unrealistic characters, we’ve grown up being his fans. There was something special in the way he wrote, blending fantasy with humour, that left readers awestruck. And how can we ever forget the gobblefunk words we learnt through his stories! From hopscotchy to gloriumptious, we have all enhanced our vocabularies throughout our childhood. Here’s a list of his books to reminisce.
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY
The story revolves around the adventures of young Charlie Bucket inside the chocolate factory of eccentric chocolatier, Willy Wonka. The story was said to be inspired by Dahl’s experience of chocolate companies during his school days and takes young readers on a joyride of emotions.
MATILDA
The story revolves around a tiny book-lover, Matilda, with supernatural powers. Mr. Wormwood, from the story, was based on a real-life character from Roald Dahl’s home village of Great Missenden in Buckinghamshire. And, the library in Great Missenden was the inspiration for Mrs. Phelps’ library, where Matilda devours classic literature by the age of four and three months.
THE BFG
Kidnapped from her orphanage by a Big Friendly Giant, who spends his life blowing happy dreams to children—little Sophie devises a plan with him to save the world from nine other man-gobbling cannybull giants. The book was dedicated to Dahl’s late daughter, Olivia, who died of measles encephalitis at the age of seven in 1962.
JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH
The plot revolves around a young orphan who enters a gigantic, magical peach, and has a wild and surreal cross-world adventure with seven magically-altered garden bugs he meets. Dahl was originally going to write about a giant cherry, but changed it to James and the Giant Peach because a peach is “prettier, bigger, and squishier than a cherry”.
ESIO TROT
Mr Hoppy is in love with Mrs Silver, but her heart belongs to Alfie, her pet tortoise. Mr Hoppy is too shy to approach Mrs Silver, until one day he comes up with a brilliant idea to win her heart. It is going to take one hundred and forty tortoises, an ancient spell, and a little bit of magic. This is said to be Dahl’s last book and narrates a sweet love story between an unlikely couple.
The writer is a part of the TDA Editorial Team.