Danny the Champion of the World by Roald Dahl

"Ugh, how childish of Angela. Reading a children's book." Ugh, foolish adult, not reading the best book Roald Dahl ever wrote. Well, best kid's book. I've never really read his adult stuff; in fact I never knew he wrote for adults until this year. What I've read of his short stories however, are really awesome.

I'm actually going to not be terrible and summarize because for the last two posts I haven't really been doing so because I turned stupid all of a sudden. Anyway, the book is about a boy, Danny, and his father--"the most marvelous and exciting father any boy ever had" (205). He's growing up on a filling station on the outskirts of a village. In the village there is a nasty rich man named Mr Hazell who owns a huge forest where he raises pheasants so once every year he can invite lords and dukes from all over to hunt them in an attempt to get in their good graces. Anyway, early on Danny discovers his father is mad about poaching--poaching pheasants. He shares with Danny some manners of catching them... And in time, they realize Mr Hazell's famous shooting party is drawing ever-closer.

This whole book, as revealed at the end, is Danny's way of trying to make us understand that his father is the most marvelous and exciting. So, not surprisingly, we learn a lot about the man, the toys he makes for his son, their celebrations, and the wonderful stories he tells (I love the picture of Danny's father telling him a story at bedtime, at least the one from the Quentin Blake version). One of Danny's favorite stories is that of the BFG. (The actual book The BFG wasn't published until several years after this.) Danny's father's story basically has all of the details of the BFG himself down--appearance, job, items carried, the bit regarding how dreams are made and sent to children... I just think it's pretty cool that he had the idea down so soon. Though, I guess it's not that surprising--it probably originated as a story for his kids. Besides that, according to Marky Mark it took Roald Dahl on average about a year to get a short story just as he liked it, so who knows how long that would be for a book, even a kid's book?

"I will not pretend I wasn't petrified. I was. But mixed in with the awful fear was a glorious feeling of excitement. Most of the really exciting things we do in our lives scare us to death. They wouldn't be exciting if they didn't" (54).

Danny's father telling him about Mr Hazell's party: "'It makes [Mr Hazell] feel important. For one day in the year he becomes a big cheese in a little world and even the Duke of so-and-so slaps him on the back and tries to remember his first name when he says good-bye'" (91). Hehe.

One chapter Danny talks about how great it is and yes even a luxury it is to have an apple tree that you can just get apples from at any old time (when they're in season, of course). Hey, I've got his back. Granted, we don't have an apple tree, but we have the farm. And sure, a lot of people have vegetable gardens, but it's still nice to be able to be like, "I'm in the mood for tomatoes/cucumbers/corn/et cetera" and just being able to get it.

Roald Dahl relies heavily on childhood experience in his books, which I think is great. It's not necessary to know about him, but you start seeing trends and think, these must be based on real folks, or if you read Boy, you know they were based on real folks. Case in point, Danny's teacher Captain Lancaster. He's described in almost the same manner what with the carrot hair, the moustache, the temper, the silliness of his still calling himself captain (the difference being that the actual Captain Lancaster was not in WWII like this fictional version of him, of course), being unfair and cruel to the boys and his penchant for caning. Actually, the scene where he canes Danny and his friend (he only hit them on their wrists, unlike the caning Dahl was punished with!) looks like it might have been lifted directly from Boy--that is, taken directly from Dahl's life. Captain Lancaster calls Danny and his friend liars and cheaters and swindlers and Danny's temper bursts and thus. I believe the scene--a scene in Boy--is that Dahl denies cheating (he was asking for a nib) and Lancaster becomes appalled and accuses Dahl of accusing Lancaster to be a liar. How Catch-22 of you, Captain Lancaster! Anyway, he goes on to cane him on his bottom (if I remember correctly--it could have happened to another boy or been enacted by another teacher, though from what I do for sure remember about the Captain that sounds very much like him).

The principal is much sweeter, a sad alcoholic made so by his harrying wife: "'If I was unlucky enough to be married to Mrs Snoddy, I would drink something a bit stronger than gin.' 'What would you drink, dad?' 'Poison,' he said. 'She's a frightful woman'" (110). Hahahaha, I know I shouldn't laugh but I can't help it. I totally love Danny's dad.

Sergeant Samways, besides having an awesome name, is another character who I'm pretty sure shows up in a few other Roald Dahl books. If not in name, there always seems to be a policeman with an accent that causes him to take the h off words that have them and then randomly add them at the beginnings to other words. (For example, he pronounces 'enticing' as henticin'.) I could be confused on this one, though. It's been a while since I've read any of Roald Dahl's kids' books. I could just be thinking of Sergeant (?) Samwise, too. Excuse me, Sergeant Gamgee. Sorry, didn't mean to just up and use your first name like we're tight, there.

Yup. Like I said, Roald Dahl's best kid book. I seriously love this book and unlike a few of his books aimed at a younger audience, I think it does well even to divert an adult and interest them. This book is seriously so good. Seriously read it. If you never read any other book I've written about and never plan to, AT LEAST READ THIS ONE. It's a book so good that if I wanted to properly communicate that with you, an expletive would be necessary. So. GOOD.

MLA Citation information: Dahl, Roald. Danny the Champion of the World. New York: Puffin Books, 1988. Print.


Apparently they made a movie out of this with Jeremy Irons. You know, Scar? Oh my God hook me up.

Answer to last post's cryptic song lyrics for Emma: Honey by the Hush Sound
This post's cryptic song lyrics for Emma: I'm like a bird, I'll only fly away
(Yes, I know I'm reaching here.)