Roald Dahl's Widow Recalls His Childlike Sensibility

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 22:30:00 GMT

Felicity Dahl, the widow of the beloved children’s book author Roald Dahl, rarely gives interviews. 18 years after Dahl’s death, she finds it difficult to speak about her husband without crying. But in an interview with the Sunday Guardian, she spoke candidly about her husband's writing and personal life in order to publicize the inaugural Roald Dahl Funny Prize, which will be awarded to a humorous children’s book author on Thursday.

Felicity (pictured), won now runs the Roald Dahl Foundation, attributes Dahl’s popularity among kids not just to his humor, but to the fact that he treated children as his “equals,” never talking down to them or forgetting his own childlike wonder. He would drink pink milk for breakfast and constantly look for ways to surprise strangers with “treats,” such as buying all the nurses on his hospital floor new clothes in the last months of his life.

Dahl’s life was punctuated by tragedy. His sister and father died of unrelated illnesses within a month of each other when he was young, and his own daughter contracted a fatal illness many years later. But Felicity said he kept positive in large part by keeping his child’s mind alive and well. “He was always looking to help people and just make their day a little more interesting,” Felicity said, “because most people's days were very dull.”

Felicity is certain that Dahl would have been sorely disheartened by the advent of Game Boys and Nintendo Wiis that occupy so much of young people's free time these days. “I think [computer] games are absolutely appalling,” she said. “A child is never left on their own with nothing, so that they have to create their world.”

On the upside, one million of Dahl’s books continue to be sold each year.

Photo: Antonio Olmes/The Guardian

Why Roald Dahl Matters

Banned Books Week: Roald Dahl's The Witches

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 18:00:00 GMT

Roald Dahl was my first role model. After I read The Witches in third grade, I decided I wanted to be a writer when I grew up. Not only did I read everything else Dahl had written, but I started writing my own stories in imitation of his style. I lent The Witches to my best friend, who struggled in school and especially hated reading. She also fell in love with Dahl, and we’ve been swapping books ever since.

Dahl is so beloved amongst elementary school children because he understands the child’s worldview, and he writes from it. His creations are whimsical and imaginative in the way that children think. Perhaps most importantly, he makes kids laugh. Reading his books gave me the message that my own imagination was valued, and could be a highly entertaining plaything. When a writer constructs a story that engages young people to this degree, his books should be spread as widely as possible.

But this is apparently not the thinking of many outspoken critics. The Witches, number 27 on the list of the most frequently challenged books of 90s, was criticized by psychologists for being unrealistic, and therefore giving children a false idea of the way the world works. Feminists were outraged by its supposedly negative portrayal of women. And, naturally, witch groups throughout the world were highly offended.

To all of these critics, Dahl responded, “Get a sense of humor.” Children do not read his books as sociological textbooks, but as stories, works of the imagination. Dahl’s witches are not even human; they have no toes.

The Witches is not the only Dahl creation to come under fire. Many of Dahl’s books were frequently challenged because, in the words of one critic, he doesn’t write about “nice themes.” (Talk about unrealistic.) I still can’t watch a horror movie without having nightmares for days, so I guarantee that if Dahl’s books were overly dark or violent, I wouldn’t have read them. The Witches is certainly scary at times, which is part of what makes it a great read. It taught me to be lost in a book to the degree that I became scared or happy or sad along with the characters.

Being moved by literature is one of the most important ways that young children learn to be engaged with the world. Teaching children that only “nice” feelings and events are acceptable to talk about dangerously limits this engagement.

Today, I remember almost nothing of the storyline of The Witches, but I often recall the way it affected me. The plot itself didn’t matter nearly as much as the fact that I got completely lost in it. Dahl himself put it best himself: “If my books can help children become readers, then I feel I have accomplished something important.”

Image: reader2.com

Roald Dahl's Widow Recalls His Childlike Sensibility

Strollerderby : the witches

Roald Dahl's Widow Recalls His Childlike Sensibility

Banned Books Week: Roald Dahl's The Witches