Roald Dahl Books

 A few years ago, I purchased 'The enormous crocodile' for my niece's 7th birthday. I was wondering what to get her for her birthday, mainly because we were all going through tough times and she had more than enough 'stuff'. She was a first grader and was able to read 'chapter books'. I love books, so I decided that a good story will suffice. This is one of the few books I purchased for her then. I read it right there in the bookstore. It is funny, well written, engaging, a baby-ish kind of story, yet quite amusing for big kids like me too.
Recently, I was looking for read-alouds appropriate for my own children. I saw in all lists I examined, over and over and over again, books by Roald Dahl. I remembered the 'Enormous Crocodile' and despite disliking Johnnny Dep and the posters and the commercials for the movie James and the Giant Peach, I decided to read the Roald Dahl's books. Amen! I am so glad I did. All books are well written and very enjoyable. So, please, don't skip on this smaller book, only 22 pages, but wonderful too.
The Twits are plain funny. Two evil people who play tricks on one another (tricks to die over) and who eventually get tricked by a bunch of monkeys. If you are like me and went to Caltech and duct-tapes someone's stuff to the ceiling, this book is hystarical reminder of the good old days. This is the book we will read this week. I think my kids will giggle their tummies out.

James and the giant peach is a fantastic adventure. It has its villains and good guys. The good guys are of course fantastic creatures. Then there is New York. And for a family like mine which makes New Jersey/New York home a few months of the year,this is a guaranteed hit. I have not read it to my children yet. I suggested it but they both declined. I will suggest it again later in the year, maybe May, when we actually head to New York.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is wonderful.  I was thinking of reading 'Family Under the Bridge' after we read this one. I have not read this one to my children. I think I will read it in September, right before their birthdays, so they narrow down a little on their wants.  I am on a roll and determined to read all Roald Dahl books that are in my public library. They are super quick and entertaining read.

Update: 2/28/2014
The disappointing thing about all of Roald Dahl's books is that the ending leaves you hanging. There is a desire to find more or as Ballet girl put it: there need to be more words on the empty pages that follow. She was right. One may argue that the beauty in this situation is that you can talk about: 'so, what do you think should be written next, what do you think would happen next, shall we write something to finish the book to our liking. I think we will do that.

Update: 3/15/2014

Sunlight boy received this set from a friend for Christmas. We haven't played much with it because I have concerns regarding the sticks and children misusing them. However, this toy turned perfect when he fell in love with the Enormous Crocodile by Roald Dahl. He has been stuffing his lego figurines into the creature's mouth pretending it's the children the enormous crocodile would have eaten. This is astounding to me because in a million years I would not have thought of playing with that toy in this way.