Roald Dahl

Roald Dahl was born on September 13, 1916 in Wales. His parents were both Norwegian
and he was named after a Norwegian polar explorer popular at the time. When Dahl was just
three years old, his older sister and his father died within weeks of one another. His mother
decided to stay in Wales, rather than returning to Norway so her children could attend British
schools. It was at these schools that Dahl was largely shaped. In one of his autobiographies,
Boy, Dahl tells of his experiences at a few different boarding schools. While there are certainly
funny stories which are shared, there are also a lot of abusive adults, a theme which shows up in
much of Dahls work for children. While Dahl experienced some tough times at the schools he
attended, he also enjoyed success in many sports he played there. His experiences at school, the
summers he spent with family in Norway, and many other things Dahl encountered in childhood
ended up making their way into his later literary works.
After he finished school Dahl started working for the Shell Petroleum Company. After being
trained he was sent to Kenya and then modern day Tanzania. In the fall of 1939 Dahl joined the
Royal Air Force where he served in different capacities for many years. Early in his career Dahl
experienced a plane crash where he lost consciousness and his sight for a period of time. His
first published piece was about this experience and was published in The Saturday Evening Post.
In addition to fighting in some battles during World War 2 with the Royal Air Force, Dahl served
with the British Security Coordination a part of MI6. After the war Dahl continued writing,
publishing both childrens stories and adult short stories. While this guide focuses on his very
popular childrens books, Dahl also won several awards for his adult work. In fact, for his first
fifteen years of writing, Dahl focused on adult pieces. He was often published in magazines,
before his work was eventually collected into book form. During the 1960s Dahl wrote
screenplays for a James Bond film and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, but they were finished by other
people.
After having children of his own, Dahl began to concentrate more on writing childrens
literature, which he found more challenging and rewarding. After publishing James and the
Giant Peach in 1961, Dahl continued to write a string of popular books from Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory to The BFG to Matilda. Dahls books often feature adults who are mean and
dimwitted. The stories are often told from the point of view of a child and include a sharp

understanding of the world with both its humor and its cruelty. As discussed earlier, Dahl
personally experienced both of these things in his childhood, and this pattern unfortunately
continued into adulthood. Dahls oldest daughter died after getting the measles at the age of
seven. His son, Theo, suffered a brain injury when his was an infant. Later, Dahls first wife
suffered three strokes while she was pregnant. Through all these tragedies, Dahl kept a positive
attitude and worked in the case of Theo and his first wife to do what he could to help with their
recoveries. The fact that both his childhood and adulthood were not sheltered from tragedy
doubtlessly contributed to the dark side of Dahls books, including those for children. Despite
featuring cruel characters and dark humor, Dahls books were and continue to be popular with
children. Dahl died in 1990 of a rare blood disorder, but the popularity of his childrens books
and their colorful characters continues.

Noteworthy Awards and Honors

New England Round Table of Childrens Librarians Award, 1972 (Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory)
Federation of Childrens Book Groups Award, 1982 (The BFG)
New York Times Outstanding Books Award, 1983 (The Witches)
Whitbread Award, 1983 (The Witches)
Nations Favorite Childrens Book in BBC Bookworm Poll, 1998 (Matilda)
Millennium Childrens Book Award, 2000 (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)

Resources where additional information may be found

http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/arts/sites/roald-dahl/ This BBC website has interviews with Dahls

wives, one of his daughters, and a brief biography.

Dahl, Roald. Boy and Going Solo. 1984, 1986. These two autobiographies, written for children,
help readers understand the author and his history. Readers will be able to identify many
characters and incidents that show up later in his childrens books.
Dahl, Roald and Cooling, Wendy (Compiler). D is for Dahl: A Gloriumptious A-Z Guide to the
World of Roald Dahl. 2007. This book for young readers explores facts and trivia about Dahl
and his life.
http://www.roalddahl.com/ Roald Dahls official website. This website is easily navigable for
all ages and features colorful drawings. There are summaries of Dahls books, a photo album, a
biography, ideas for teachers, and games.
http://www.roalddahlfans.com/ A Roald Dahl fan site, this one is not as professional as the
others. However, it has valuable ideas for students and teachers, Dahls work broken into types,
a timeline, and idea a listing of upcoming events surrounding the author.
http://www.roalddahlmuseum.org/ This is the website for the Roald Dahl Museum, but it also
includes information on Dahl and his writing process. In addition there are interviews with
authors who have won Dahl humor prizes featuring questions that Dahl might ask.
Treglown, Jeremy. Roald Dahl: A Biography. 1995. Not a book for child fans of the author, this
biography discusses both the positive and negative sides of Dahl.

Selected Annotated Bibliography

Dahl, Roald. Boy. 1984. A memoir of Dahls childhood which is both darkly funny and tragic at
times. Many of the qualities seen in his books can be tied to his early experiences described in
the book.
Dahl, Roald. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. 1964. Charlie, whose family is not well-off,
wins a ticket to tour a famous candy factory. Charlie and his grandfather join other memorable
characters in their tour of the whimsical factory given by its eccentric owner.
Dahl, Roald. Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. 1972. The sequel to Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory finds Charlie and his family launched into space on a giant glass elevator.

Dahl, Roald. Danny, the Champion of the World. 1975. The story of the close relationship
between Danny and his story-telling father. When Danny learns a secret about his father, the two
set off on an adventure together.
Dahl, Roald. Dirty Beasts. 1984. A short poetry book featuring different dirty animals. This
collection of poems has been illustrated by different illustrators, most famously Dahls frequent
partner Quentin Blake.
Dahl, Roald. Fantastic Mr. Fox. 1970. Three mean farmers set out to destroy Mr. Fox and his
family. Only a fantastic plan can save Mr. Fox from their schemes.
Dahl, Roald. Going Solo. 1986. A memoir of Dahls time in Africa and as a fighter pilot in
World War II.
Dahl, Roald. James and the Giant Peach. 1961. A boy embarks on an adventure inside a giant
peach which is inhabited by large insects.
Dahl, Roald. Matilda. 1988. The story of a brilliant child, Matilda and her special powers.
Matilda is surrounded by many bad adults, but is able to use her powers to make things right.
Dahl, Roald. Revolting Rhymes. 1982. Dahl retells six fairy tales twisting them to surprising and
unconventional conclusions.
Dahl, Roald. The BFG. 1982. Sophie is snatched out of her bed by a giant, but fortunate for her
he is a Big Friendly Giant (BFG) and not one of his child eating brethren. Together the two
come up with a plan to stop the other giants from their evil.
Dahl, Roald. The Magic Finger. 1966. A young girl who is fed up with her neighbors hunting,
uses her magic finger to turn them into the hunted.
Dahl, Roald. The Twits. 1980. The Twits are ugly, smelly, and mean to one another and their
caged monkeys. Their monkeys plot revenge and outsmart the Twits.
Dahl, Roald. The Witches. 1983. The story of a boy who unfortunately meets the real witches his
grandmother has been telling about and is turned into a mouse. He then sets about trying to
expose the witches for who they are and stop them from destroying other children.

Extension Activity for Boy

Materials: Pencil or Pen, Paper, Crayons, Memories, Imagination
Target Age: 5th grade and up
Instructions: Read a The Great Mouse Plot from Boy to the group. Explain that this is a true
story from Roald Dahls life. Ask students to think of a funny, scary, or memorable experience
from their own life and write a brief story about it. They can illustrate their story with pictures if
they choose.
Alternatives: If students dont have writing skills necessary for this assignment, have them draw
a picture from a memorable episode in their life and tell their story aloud to the group.

Extension Activity for The BFG

Materials: Empty jars (baby food, canning, or other), pieces of paper cut to fit the jars, glue,
markers or colored pens (Optional: Stickers, glitter)
Target Age: 2nd grade and up
Instructions: After reading The BFG, tell the children they are going to make their own dream
jars. Have students write their ideal dream on a slip of paper and decorate as they choose. Then
glue the slips of paper around the jars. Let students take jars home to display in their rooms.