Happy Birthday, Roald Dahl!!

By the time I will have posted this, the holiday will be over, but I want to celebrate it anyway. So this late post will have to do.

Yes, I know, it was Friday the 13th. Personally, I don't really care about that one. It's like, meh, whatever.

What I do care about is that Friday was also the magical Roald Dahl's birthday! Happy birthday to one of my very favorite authors! He would've been 97 today. But he passed away in 1990 - though that didn't stop me as a child from wanting him to come out with new publications once I'd read all of his children's books.

When I told Staff Assistant Sean earlier today that it was Roald Dahl's birthday, he smiled indulgently (as he often does when I tell him really important facts - honestly, why didn't he want to learn all about Bastille Day when I was so ready to teach him?!), and said, "You're such an English major!" And I replied, "Excuse me? This is not an 'English major' thing - this is my childhood! Roald Dahl practically raised me. I read all of his children's books!" He asked me, the hint of a dare in his tone, to name all of his children's books. When I got to about the 12th book, he looked away, humbled, finally believing that this man was an active participant in shaping my life during my younger years. I could've gone on, but I spared him his afternoon after indulging in a dramatic sum-up of Esio Trot.

I can't say I've read much of his adult works, though. He will always be the author of my youth, and I'm not sure I'm ready to grow up to his adult fare. I read a few parts of Boy and The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (more YA than adult or children, I suppose). And the stories he selected from other writers in Roald Dahl's Book of Ghost Stories. Those were maybe a little scary for my young age at the time; Rosemary Timperley's "Harry" will always give me the creeps.

But there are a handful of his children stories that I list among my favorite books of all time - they are listed next to Anna Karenina and the Count of Monte Cristo and the Great Gatsby and the Catcher in the Rye.

So would you mind allowing me to indulge in discussing them a little bit? Roald Dahl shaped my childhood, so in discussing his books, I feel like I'm just writing a little bit about myself for you all anyway - which is what I do here anyway, right?

Our unofficial family book was Fantastic Mr. Fox. So it was, of course, my favorite of his. This is how I remember coming upon this book. We were on a family vacation, I think a local vacation, somewhere in Wisconsin. So maybe we were going to a State Track meet or something. And I remember it was a darker, gloomy day. Though that could be wrong. Anyway, none of that matters. I just remember that my oldest brother Chris was there, so I must've been really young. And we were at an outlet mall or something. And Chris really wanted to find this book, and I hadn't ever heard of it before. But it seemed excruciatingly important that we bought a copy. So we bought two. I associate this book with my dad, who read it to me a number of times, and would recite the limerick from the book, which the kids would sing about the local farmers in the town (and which I sometimes sing to myself still, on random walks down the street):

Boggis, Bunce, and Bean

One Fat, One Short, One Lean.

These Horrible Crooks,

So Different in Looks,

Are None the Less Equally Mean!

I think Chris took one of the copies for himself, as it was at his request that we bought them. And I'm pretty sure that second copy is currently sitting on my bookshelf in my room, an arm's length from where I am right now. Slightly tattered, extremely loved. I held on to that book from the moment we bought it, adoring it unconditionally and treasuring it above most of my other belongings.

After FMF, a very close second favorite has always been The Witches. The chapters explaining what a witch looks like, and how a witch masks her true form to blend in will go down as some of my favorite passages to re-read, no matter how old I am. I was scared and exhilarated every time I read that book. The little girl who was magicked into the painting in the story has made me forever skeptical about any people portrayed in scenic paintings. One of my nieces is currently reading that book, and my sister just told me that niece recently mentioned that maybe she shouldn't read it right before bed. I think I learned that lesson the hard way, too. It freaked me out completely, and I was absolutely delighted by it.

A shorter story of his that I absolutely love is Esio Trot. I mentioned it above - this story also includes a limerick/poem/magic spell that must be read aloud, much like FMF, and it's so fun to read. Esio Trot is tortoise spelled backwards (if you didn't notice already), and the poem is all written backwards. One day, while sister Abby was visiting from college, she came into my room, collapsed on my bed, and demanded that I read something from our beloved Dahl out loud to her. Being the obliging younger sister that I am (oh, how I've suffered!), I quickly picked up Esio Trot and gave it my best rendering. I think that moment, with that book, made me decide I wanted to read books for people - record audiobooks - for a living. Of course, I didn't get involved in any sort of theater or anything that would've given me training, but the dream has never fully died. And thinking about/re-reading Esio Trot just fans the flames!

This sounds strange, but seriously - Revolting Rhymes always made me laugh. Especially Dahl's version of Cinderella. Disney's Cinderella has always been my favorite movie. And this is just so completely opposite. The language is probably not quite "child-like,"but I love that the Prince cuts off the heads of the ugly step-sisters and Cindy decides she could be so much happier with a simple man and a simple life, so she marries a jam-maker instead. It's slightly violent, but I think the moral is good!

There are so many more that I really love and enjoy - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the BFG, The Magic Finger, James and the Giant Peach (ironically, since I abhor bugs, and half of the characters are giant bugs/insects) - but the last one that I think really stuck with me is Matilda. Miss Trunchbull is one of the greatest villains of all time, a terrible child abuser by today's standards, who strikes fear in all those who look at her. She hammer-tossed a little girl across a field by her braids! She kicked children! The Chokey, my goodness, the Chokey!! She was a monster. And she tormented all the children, and poor sweet Ms. Honey, an angel. Miss Trunchbull is an under-rated villain in literature. And then comes little Matilda, a genius child who, at a very young age, found that she had magic powers of telekinesis. And that with this power, she could do great things to right the wrongs of the world around her, or some of the wrongs, at least. There's just so much good in this book. It makes me so happy to read. And then there's chocolate cake. Anytime I see a large chocolate cake, I smile and think of Matilda. And Bruce Bogtrotter. And the GIANT chocolate cake he had to eat as punishment for stealing a piece of the Trunchbull's chocolate cake earlier. And the triumph of Bruce, as he taps into his reserves of perseverance and eats. the. whole. cake. I'm exhilarated (and waiting to get diabetes) just thinking about it! Matilda just makes me happy. The book does. The movie does. One day, I expect the musical will. You go, girl.

I should note, all of these books were favorites of mine for the stories - the story was so delicious to me. But most of them really came alive around me through the rough, scratchy drawings of Quentin Blake. I know a few other illustrators collaborated on some of his stories, but Quentin Blake was the staple - he was the go-to illustrator. And his course, pencil drawings were the perfect amount of strange, unique, revolting, sweet, silly personality for all of these strange, unique, revolting, sweet, silly characters Roald Dahl imagined into life. So I adore my Roald Dahl, but he's not really complete without Quentin Blake defining the picture. So, thanks Quentin. I adore you, too.

Matilda. {source}

The BFG {source}

Fantastic Mr. Fox - he was a stamp!! {source}

The Witches {source}

So, I think I've proved a little bit of my infatuation with the man who went from fighting in WWII as a fighter pilot to writing lovably twisted children's stories (and adult stories, too). Roald will always have a large part of my heart. Sorry, future husband - you'll always be chasing my complete love, because part of me is already eternally taken.

I can't think of many more ways to express my love for this man. So maybe I'll leave you with a few remarks the man himself made in his life. He's just my favorite. Have I mentioned that?

******

“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

“So Matilda’s strong young mind continued to grow, nurtured by the voices of all those authors who had sent their books out into the world like ships on the sea. These books gave Matilda a hopeful and comforting message: You are not alone.” 
― Roald Dahl, Matilda

“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