Happy birthday to Roald Dahl.
World wide celebrations are happening to celebrate the master storyteller who gave us children’s classics like Matilda, James and the Giant Peach, Fantastic Mr. Fox and many others. As much as Dahl’s children’s books are crackling funny, his books for adults are dark with subtle humour. To celebrate Roald Dahl’s 100th birthday, six words including ‘Oompa Loompa’ and ‘witching hour’ are added to the new edition of Oxford dictionary
That brings us to an essential reading list to celebrate Dahl’s 100. “Navarasas” are nine states to express emotions in many forms of Indian art including dance, music, musical theatre, cinema and literature.
Here is a fun list that combines Indian Navarasas and Roald Dahl’s books. Grab a bottle of ‘frobscottle’ and let’s get going!
1. Sringara (Love, Affection) in Esio Trot
Mr Hoppy is secretly in love with his neighbour Mrs. Silver. He wants to tell her his feelings but her mind is worried about her pet tortoise that doesn’t grow bigger. Our hero has an answer to that problem- a magic spell. Here is a man who goes to the edge of the world to win the heart of the love of his life.
2. Veera (Bravery) in The Witches
The Witches has the bravest young boy in the world. A seven year old orphan against ALL the witches? The courage of this young man is admirable. And all the fun, and all the adventure? Bring it on!!
3. Karuna (Compassion) in George’s Marvellous Medicine
Who cannot feel sorry for poor George whose grandmother is so horrid that he wants to invent a medicine to make her disappear? Grandmothers are supposed to be nice and sweet. Well, the medicine is pretty horrible too – shampoo, floor polish and deodorant. Swatchscollop indeed! Proves how terrible the granny was.
4. Hasyam (Laughter) in BFG
BFG is the funniest with more new words than you can ever imagine. As the big guy says “We should not gobbfunk with words.’ And the frobscottle that makes you have loud whizz poppers (or farts as they are called in our common world)!
BFG has the best dreams (called Ringbellers) in his bottles and the best laughs in every page.
5. Raudra (Anger) in Fantastic Mr. Fox
Fantastic Mr. Fox is a much loved classic by Roald Dahl. The fox might be a thief, he might steal chickens. But who cares? He is fantastic! Every child who reads the book feels an undying anger towards the farmers who try to catch the fox.
Well, as an adult one might think otherwise.
6. Bhibhatsa (Disgust) in The Twits
Where to even start about the disgusting things about this couple! They catch birds and make bird pies. And Mr. Twit has a beard coated with all the things he has eaten for breakfast and dinner. Yuck.
The humour in this one is spot on with African language speaking monkeys and English speaking birds and how a Roly Poly bird finally comes to their help as a translator to help them communicate and save the day.
7. Bhayanaka (Fearful) in Matilda
Every bookworm has a soft corner for Matilda, the girl who taught herself to read and spent long hours in the library every day. But isn’t Miss. Trunchbull, the headmistress a terror? Every child’s nightmare indeed. And with parents like Mr and Mrs. Wormwood? Poor Matilda! As all Roald Dahl books, thank God this has a happy ending.
8. Adbhutha (Wonder) in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Wasn’t the chocolate factory of Willy Wonka imagination at its best? Chocolate rivers, bubble gum makers and endless supply of chocolate all around? It is every child’s dream come true.<
Absolutely Whoopsy wiffling!!
9. Shanta (Peace) in The Vicar of Nibbleswicke
The new Reverend of Nibbleswicke has a strange form of dyslexia. He pronounces certain words backwords. ‘God’ becomes ‘dog’ and ‘think’ becomes ‘stink’ when he says them; with hilarious results. The peace at a happy ending when a stranger remedy is found for this strange disease is priceless.
PS : I feel super bad I could not fit James and the Giant Peach in here. That is a marvellous read too!
Do you love Roald Dahl? Do you have a favourite book? Have you read his short stories? (I love them too!) Have you watched the movie adaptations as well? (They are all SO well taken, esp The Witches, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Charlie and the Chocolate factory, Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory and Matilda!!)
A wonderful, wonderful post – thank you!
Thank you so much. 🙂
Oh wow how innovative is this post! Ive only read the twits and Matilda. Totally loved her and related to her. Even now she remains my favourite character despite hermione being awesome.
Thank you Vicky. I love Matilda too. Have you seen the movie? It is hilarious as well
I will never forget Mr Twit’s beard! Do not ask me why, I just always remember that long passage about everything that’s stuck in it. 🙂 I read quite a few Roald Dahl books as a child. The one I remember the best is Matilda.
Brilliant post! 😀
Haha. That is right. I remember trying to imagine it with yesterday’s dinner and breakfast and ‘even a cycle’ inside Mr. twit’s beard as Dahl puts it. Thank you. I love Matilda too
I love this! You’ve made me smile. 🙂
I am so glad to hear that Naomi. 🙂
My favorite movie adaption is The Fantastic Mr. Fox. I think it does a great job staying true to the book, plus the claymation is brilliant!
I recently started to read his adult short stories. Very creepy– I think I’ll stick with his kids books. 🙂
That makes me eager to see the movie. I have nor seen the whole of Mr Fox, just parts of it. Haha, I agree abot the adult stories being really creepy
This might be my favorite post of yours so far because I truly adore Roald Dahl’s books. They are pure fun and magic for all ages 🙂
Thank you so much. I love Roald Dahl as well and had so much fun compiling it
Lovely post as usual, especially the names in the other language. My favorite is Matilda!
Thank you so much. I love Matilda too
I absolutely afore this post Resh, I’m a massive Dahl fan and grew up reading his books and would always check them out from the library when I was young. I think my favourite is either Matilda or Charlie and The Chocolate Factory. I reread Charlie last year and I’d forgotten how sassy Willy Wonka actually was, so much more snarky than I remembered. Dahl and Lewis Carroll were two authors who completely changed children’s literature and the world is so much better for it <3
You know, that would make a fascinating comparison: Roald Dahl and Lewis Carroll and the impact they have had on children’s literature. Great idea!
Thank you so much dearie. I am a huge fan too. I used to devour his books from the libray when I was a kid, It is so hard for me to choose a favourite. The imagination in chocolate factory was splendid. And Matilda is everyone’s dream friend. I completely agree about how awesome Dahl and Carrol are
This post reminds me so much of my childhood. The BFG is one of the first books I remember falling in love with. Thank you for this post!!
I am glad you loved Roald Dahl as much as I did
The Twits was one of the first English books I owned so it will always be special to me, especially that line about ugly VS beauty comes from the inside <3 My favourite will always be Matilda, though! What a fun and nostalgic post 😀
Thanks Aentee. I loved Twits too. And totally agree about how great the line of ugly vs beauty is.
Of those the only one I haven’t read is The Vicar of Nibbleswicke. I adored Roald Dahl as a child, and my favourite stories were Esio Trot and the Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (and my edition had a few other short stories as well). As an adult I really appreciate Boy and his non-fiction writing on his time as a pilot. Loved the format of this post btw, great idea.
Thanks alot Tamsien. How nice to see you here, thank you for visiting. I can’t remember much of Henry Sugar. So I need to re read that one now. I love his short stories too. I havent read much of his non fiction. But I think I should
I adored Matilda when I was younger, and I still do. I think it was because It was the first book I read where the character truly loved books and she wasn’t instantly a nerd/outcast in school or with her friends because of it. She just happened to like books.
I am glad you loved Matilda too. You must watch the movie if you have not already. It is hilarious. 😀
I;ve read almost all of them except for that last one on the end there! I love Roald Dahl, since I was a child and just as much as I do now. I can’t get enough of his books, and you’re right! They do teach us so many important life lessons and virtues which are worth reading about, which makes them so good for all ages.
Roald Dahl is one author I have loved as a child and still do as an adult. His books are so entertaining.
I just finished reading Matilda! Absolutely loved it, and I’m a little sad I didn’t read it as a child. My younger self would have loved it too. 🙂 The only other Dahl book I’ve read is Charlie & the Chocolate Factory. I have a lot of catching up to do.
Oh yes! All of Dahl’s books are amazing. I loved the Twits, if you are looking for the next read.
Thanks for the recommendation, Resh! 🙂