"And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it." — Roald Dahl

"And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it." — Roald Dahl

A Few More Interesting Facts

• Roald’s favorite color is yellow• The language he created for

BFG is called “gobblefunk”• Quentin Blake draws all of the

illustrations for Roald Dahl

Dahl, Roald. (1988). matilda. New York, NY: Viking Press.

Dahl, Roald. (1984). boy. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.

Dahl, Roald. (1964). charlie and the chocolate factory. New York, NY: Random House.

Books

Dahl, Roald. (2000). Skin and other stories. NewYork, NY: Viking Press.

Dahl, Roald. (1977). the wonderful story of henry sugar and six more. New York, NY: Jonathan Cape Publishing

Dahl, Roald. (2009). revolting rhymes. New York, NY: Puffin Books.

Dahl, Roald. (2000). Skin and other stories. NewYork, NY: Viking Press.

Dahl, Roald. (1977). the wonderful story of henry sugar and six more. New York, NY: Jonathan Cape Publishing

Dahl, Roald. (2009). revolting rhymes. New York, NY: Puffin Books.

Roald Dahl was born in Llandaff, Cardiff on September 13, 1916. Although he grew up in Whales, both of his parents were Norwegian.

Roald’s sister and father died when he was very young, leaving him to be raised by his widowed mother. She raised the ---children that she and Roald’s father had together as well as the two children that his Dad had with his first wife (Dahl, 1984 ).

A Little History

Although most of his stories are fantasy, Roald draws on his own real life experiences

Not all of Roald’s book were for children, he wrote adult fiction and non-fiction titles.

Many critics think that Roald’s stories were too harsh and scary for children, some even believe that his books are about injustice and neglect and that they are really books for adults.

“I never get any protests from children, all you get are giggles and

mirth and squirms of delight. I know what children like” (Dahl, 1984).

Other critics feel that his writing is too grisly. He certainly had a some unusual tendencies, after being injured as a pilot in WWI, he kept a piece of the femur that was removed; he used it as a paperweight (Shields, 2002).

Roald was schooled in various boarding schools. He was always angry by the way the headmaster’s and older children abused the younger children. Many think his hatred for authority showed in his stories (Shields,2002).

“ At anytime she likes, the matron could send you down in your pyjamas and dressing-gown to report to this merciless giant, and whenever this happened you got caned on the spot. The Matron knew this and she relished the whole business” (Dahl, 1986).

Roald and his wife, Patricia Neal (a famous movie actress), were no strangers to tragedy. They had five children. Theo was tragically hit by a taxi cab in New York City, he recovered but it was along hard recovery. Their daughter Olivia died from complications when she had the measles. And Pat suffered a stroke while pregnant with their fifth child.

Some think of The Gremlins as Roald’s first children book, however he thinks that James and the Giant Peach published in 1962 deserves that title.

Roald has published hundreds works of literature including children’s books, adult fiction and non-fiction books, short stories, plays, children’s poetry, film scripts, and television scripts.

• Roald died on November 23, 1990 of a blood disease.

• In 1996, Buckinghamshire County Museum opened the Roald Dahl Children’s Gallery.

• In 2002 , the Oval Basil plaza in Cardiff Bay, was Renamed “Roald Dahl Plass” in Roald’s honor.

In The End

Here We Go…

Awards

• Edgar Allen Poe Award (Mystery Writers of America)• Federation of Children’s Book Award (The BFG , The

Witches & Matilda)• New York Times Outstanding Book Award (The

Witched)• World Fantasy Convention Lifetime Achievement

Award• Smarties Award (Esio Trot)• Nation’s Favorite Children’s Book- (Matilda)

Illustrations/Quotes"Everything in

this room is edible. Even I'm edible. But, that would be called cannibalism. It is looked down upon in most societies."

— Roald Dahl (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)

"The witching hour, somebody had once whispered to her, was a special moment in the middle of the night when every child and every grown-up was in a deep deep sleep, and all the dark things came out from hiding and had the world all to themselves."

— Roald Dahl (The BFG) "Matilda said, "Never do anything by halves if you want to get away with it. Be outrageous. Go the whole hog. Make sure everything you do is so completely crazy it's unbelievable..." — Roald Dahl (Matilda)

Illustrations/Quotes

"A whizzpopper!" cried the BFG, beaming at her. "Us giants is making whizzpoppers all the time! Whizzpopping is a sign of happiness. It is music in our ears! You surely is not telling me that a little whizzpopping if forbidden among human beans?"

— Roald Dahl (The BFG)

"Of course they're real people. They're Oompa-Loompas...Imported direct from Loompaland...And oh what a terrible country it is! Nothing but thick jungles infested by the most dangerous beasts in the world - hornswogglers and snozzwangers and those terrible wicked whangdoodles. A whangdoodle would eat ten Oompa-Loompas for breakfast and come galloping back for a second helping."

— Roald Dahl (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)

Illustrations/Quotes“At that point, Mary Maloney simply walked up behind him and without any pause she swung the big frozen leg of lamb high in the air and brought it down as hard as she could on the back of his head.”

--Roald Dahl (Lamb to the Slaughter)

“The little pig began to prayBut Wolfie blew hishouse away.He shouted, “Bacon, Pork and

Ham!Oh, what a lucky wolf I am!”And though he ate the pig quite

fast,He carefully kept the tail till last”

--Roald Dahl (Revolting Rhymes)

References

Shields, Charles (2002). who wrote that? roald dahl. Philadelphia, PA: Chelsea House Publishing.

Dahl, Roald. (1984) boy. New York, NY: Jonathan Cape Publishing.

http://www.roalddahl.com/http://www.life.comhttp://www.quentinblake.com/index.html

Picture Referenceshttp://www.randomhouse.co.uk/childrens/roalddahl/day/images/links/leftTail.jpg

http://brimeetsbooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/bfg-art.jpg

http://www.philnel.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/oompaloompa1998.jpg

Mr. Wonka: "Don’t forget what happened to the man who suddenly got everything he wanted."

Charlie Bucket: "What happened?"

Mr. Wonka: "He lived happily ever after."

— Roald Dahl