• Entertaining
  • Food
  • Family
  • Beauty & Health
  • Style
  • Great Women
  • Videos
  • Events/Win
  • Best Beauty Buys
  • entertaining
  • Back To School
  • Covid-19 Health Guide
  • Food
    • Food
    • Quick & Easy Recipes
    • Healthy Recipes
    • Asian Recipes
    • Dessert Recipes
    • Eating Out
    • Festive Food
    • Cooking Tips
  • Videos
  • Family
    • Family
    • Parenting
    • Sex & Marriage
    • Travel
  • Home Ideas
    • Home Ideas
    • Decor Tips
    • Organising
    • Appliances
    • Domestic Diva Awards
    • Entertaining
  • Beauty & Health
    • Beauty & Health
    • Skincare
    • Makeup
    • Hair
    • Awards
    • Diet & Nutrition
    • Fitness
    • Wellness
  • Fashion
  • Career
  • Money
  • Real Life
  • Great Women
  • Entertainment
  • EVENTS/WIN
Subscribe Now!
  • Also available at:
Privacy Menu
SPH Magazine

Copyright © 2021 Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. Co. Regn. No. 198402868E. All rights reserved

  • Entertaining
  • Food
  • Family
  • Beauty & Health
  • Style
  • Great Women
  • Videos
  • Events/Win

Family

12 Must-Read Roald Dahl Books From The BFG To Matilda

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Search in posts
Search in pages
Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Search in posts
Search in pages
Family

12 Must-Read Roald Dahl Books From The BFG To Matilda

Encourage family bonding time by picking up a book or two by the No.1 children’s storyteller and explore new worlds together as parent and child.

by By Natalya Molok  /   August 15, 2016

Disney and legendary director Steven Spielberg have teamed up to bring us a modern-day adaptation of Roald Dahl’s “The BFG”, which comes out in Singapore on August 18.

A well-known children’s book writer, Roald Dahl was considered by many as the number one storyteller in the world and it’s not hard to see why. His stories always contained a lesson to learn built around suspense, surprise, and curiosity.

Here are some of his best books that every parent should encourage their child to read:

https://www.womensweekly.com.sg/gallery/family/must-read-roald-dahl-books-bfg-matilda/
12 Must-Read Roald Dahl Books From The BFG To Matilda
1. Matilda
image

Matilda won the Children’s Book Award shortly after it was published in 1988, and it has continued to delight audiences ever since. Early drafts of the story were very different to the one we now know. At first, Matilda was a wicked girl who eventually used her powers to help her teacher solve her financial problems – by fixing a horse race. In the end, though, it became the magical story now known to children the world over.

Photo: The Official Roald Dahl Website
2. Charlie & The Chocolate Factory
image

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is perhaps Roald Dahl’s best-known story. The story of Charlie Bucket, the five Golden Tickets, the Oompa-Loompas and the amazing Mr. Willy Wonka has become firmly embedded in our minds since it was first published in 1964. Conservative estimates suggest the original book has sold over 20 million copies worldwide; it is now available in 55 languages.

Photo: The Official Roald Dahl Website
3. Charlie & The Great Glass Elevator
image

Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator is the sequel to one of the best-loved stories in children’s literature. Published eight years after Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in 1972, it continues the story of Charlie Bucket, his family and the amazing Mr. Willy Wonka. At first, Roald Dahl thought the word ‘elevator’ was too American, but the British word ‘lift’ seemed too boring. ‘Air machine’ was considered, but ‘elevator’ came out top in the end.

Photo: The Official Roald Dahl Website
4. The Enormous Crocodile
image

As a young man, Roald Dahl lived in Africa. Not only did he have to avoid hungry crocodiles, but also marauding monkeys and deadly snakes. These experiences remained with him, and he remembered them when he came to write The Enormous Crocodile many years later. It was the first book Roald wrote for younger children, and it was also the first of his stories to be illustrated by Quentin Blake – marking the beginning of a now legendary partnership.

Photo: The Official Roald Dahl Website
5. Fantastic Mr. Fox
image

Published in 1970, the story of Mr Fox and his feud with the farmers Boggis, Bunce and Bean has gone on to inspire many other artists, including a 1998 operatic version of the story composed by Tobias Picker to a libretto by Donald Sturrock, and a critically acclaimed stop-motion film directed by Wes Anderson featuring the voices of George Clooney and Meryl Streep.

Photo: The Official Roald Dahl Website
6. George's Marvellous Medicine
image

In George’s Marvellous Medicine, published in 1981, George Kranky’s Grandma may not anticipate the results of the medicine fed to her by her grandson, but like George, Roald Dahl also had fun mixing marvellous concoctions. He called them witches potions and delivered them to his children just before bedtime. They included ingredients like tinned peaches blended with milk and either pink, blue or green food colouring. His were put together carefully, though – none of the nasty side effects George’s Grandma experienced.

Photo: The Official Roald Dahl Website
7. James & The Giant Peach
image

James and the Giant Peach was Roald Dahl’s first classic novel for children. Although The Gremlins is sometimes referred to as an earlier example of his writing for children, James was Roald’s first conscious attempt to write for a younger audience after several years of writing primarily adult short stories. It was first published in 1961 to glowing reviews and marked the beginning of his prolific career as a children’s author.

Photo: The Official Roald Dahl Website
8. The Magic Finger
image

Roald Dahl began work on The Magic Finger in 1962. In the story, an unnamed eight-year-old girl tells the story of her neighbours, the Gregg family. The Greggs like to hunt, but the girl can’t stand to see animals killed just for fun. Her sense of injustice makes her angry and through her anger she develops a special power – not dissimilar to another of Roald’s young female protagonist, Matilda Wormwood.

Photo: The Official Roald Dahl Website
9. The BFG
image

The BFG was written in 1982. The idea for the story had begun several years before, with a sentence scribbled in one of Roald Dahl’s Ideas Books – exercise books he used to write down some of the thoughts that came to him and were sometimes later turned into stories. And of all his stories, Roald Dahl said that The BFG was probably his own favourite.

Photo: The Official Roald Dahl Website
10. The Twits
image

The Twits, first published in 1980, may be about a pair of horrible twits, but it also features one of the most-quoted phrases in all of Roald’s books, “If you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.” Fun fact: Even in real life Roald Dahl was very suspicious of men with beards. He thought they must be hiding something sinister.

Photo: The Official Roald Dahl Website
11. The Witches
image

The Witches tells the story of a brave young boy and his Norwegian grandmother as they battle against England’s child-hating witches. When he was a child himself, Roald Dahl used to spend every summer holiday with his family in Norway, where he was inspired by bedtime stories of witches and magic. It is also said that the grandmother in The Witches was partially inspired by Roald’s own mother. Roald dedicated the book to his wife, Liccy.

Photo: The Official Roald Dahl Website
12. The Giraffe & The Pelly & Me
image

The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me is another of Roald’s books for younger readers. It started out with three characters, but no story. Quentin Blake liked the idea of a giraffe, as he’d never drawn one before. He also knew he could have fun with a pelican’s beak. And Roald Dahl loved the monkey previously drawn by Quentin for The Enormous Crocodile, so insisted he was included too.

(Related: 7 Ways To Encourage Your Child To Read More)

Photo: The Official Roald Dahl Website
  • TAGS:
  • bonding
  • books
  • education
  • lessons
  • Parenting
  • reading
  • Roald Dahl
SHARE THIS ON

What’s Hot

Family

10 Kid-Friendly Activities To Try For A ...

Family

12 Family Staycations In Singapore You A...

Family

18 Lucky Foods To Eat Over The CNY Celeb...

Family

No Car? No Problem. Here's Why GetVan Ri...

Family

13 fun ways to spend your $100 local tou...

Family

Make Money From Sharing Social Media Rev...

Family

10 Tips To Surviving Your Annoying Relat...

Family

Hop On The Orient Express Pop-Up That's ...

Family

This Is How Much It Costs To Live Near T...

Family

The Dad Diaries: The Truth About Being A...

Family

12 Ways To Entertain Your Kids During Sc...

Family

7 Mobile Vets That Offer Housecall Servi...

Don’t Miss These
  • Food Don't Miss Out On These Foodpanda Deals This Chinese New ...
Editor’s Picks
  • Family No Car? No Problem. Here's Why GetVan Ride Is The New Private Hire Car Servic...
  • Sex & Marriage Share A Secret: "I Divorced My Childhood Sweetheart Because Of Sex"
  • Family Hop On The Orient Express Pop-Up That's Now At Gardens by the Bay
  • Parenting Singapore Mums Share Why They School Their Kids Through Home-Learning
  • Family The Dad Diaries: The Truth About Being A First Time Dad At 45
  • Family A Story Of Strength & Resilience — The PSLE Heroes That Won't Let Cancer Get ...
Don't Miss Out Ever Again!
Tips & tricks to stay sane + win invites to our events!
Will be used in accordance with our Privacy Statement
Footer Menu
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Conditions of Access
  • PDPA
  • Privacy Policy
?>
SPH Magazine

Copyright © 2021 Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. Co. Regn. No. 198402868E. All rights reserved