what would children’s literature be without the unique voice of roald dahl? Over the course of his long career, the British novelist wrote more than 30 works populated by clever children and often monstrous adults, peppered with made-up words and sprinkled with sly and surprisingly dark humor. His stories were set in richly imagined worlds, taking place everywhere from the bowels of a mysterious chocolate factory to the heart of an impossibly large peach, even in outer space.
Troublesome personal politics aside, Dahl is responsible for some of the most memorable characters in children’s literature, from the sadistic candy maker Willy Wonka to the telekinetic Matilda and the cunning and resourceful Fantastic Mr. fox, many of whom have now been immortalized both on screen and page.
You are reading: Best roald dahl books
and today is dahl’s centenary. In honor of the occasion, we have taken it upon ourselves to create a definitive classification of Dahl’s children’s books. read on to find out where each one ended up.
Please note that we only consider full-length jobs, not short stories, and that these rankings are immutable and 100 percent accurate.
11) george’s wonderful medicine (1981)
George’s grandmother has a pouty mouth and pale brown stained teeth. she forces her 8-year-old grandson to make her endless cups of tea and eat bug-infested cabbage. she is a completely unpleasant woman. so george decides to shake her; he gives her a dose of medicine.
He happily mixes curry powder, shampoo, antifreeze, and other substances he finds around the house, but when he gives it to his grandmother, it doesn’t have the effect he had in mind. he makes it grow, becoming unimaginably large. Which, George’s father proclaims, means that George has effectively solved world hunger!
wait, huh?
yeah, that world hunger resolution angle comes out of nowhere at the end, just like the rest of the story that doesn’t exactly get resolved. Add to that the sheer bitterness of the premise, and you have one of Dahl’s most uneven works. —constance grady
10) charlie and the great glass elevator (1972)
Speaking of bitterness, it was not lacking in the sequel to Dahl’s most famous and beloved book. Moving the action as far away from Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory as possible, Dahl puts his heroes, Charlie Bucket and Willy Wonka, in a large glass elevator for what amounts to an epic (space) road trip with the entire family. charlie’s family, complete with all the suffering “are we there yet?” moments that such a description implies.
See Also: Audiobooks narrated by Paul Michael | Audible.com
But Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator also contains scathing, largely clichéd tirades against American politics, including an oddly childish look from the American president. Charlie’s two loving grandmothers from the previous book are abruptly transformed at the beginning of this one into unbearable, demonized examples of every superficial human trait Dahl can think of weighing them down. By the time the Vermicious Knids show up, you’re rooting for the aliens to win and wishing Charlie was still dreaming by the chocolate river. what was dahl thinking? —aja roman
9) disgusting rhymes (1982)
a collection of rhyming poems, disgusting rhymes is not a “typical” dahl book. But the author’s crooning tales of six famous fairy tales, without all the grotesque Disney details, provide a fitting showcase for his twisted sense of humor. This makes sense, as Dahl’s stories already borrow heavily from fairy tale tropes; Almost all of his stories for children involve waifs, wicked witches, and/or incredibly magical creatures.
Still: Dahl takes fairy tales to another level with sickening rhymes, creating a bloodbath out of Cinderella’s romance, turning Little Red Riding Hood into a cold-blooded killer, and saddling Snow White with seven drug-addicted dwarfs. play. As with all of Dahl’s best works, the Disgusting Rhymes are incredibly strange and even disturbing, but often very funny. —carolina framke
8) the wonderful story of henry sugar and six more (1977)
the henry sugar anthology is a strange one to consume in the middle of a roald dahl binge, but it has always been one of my favorites. It is, in a word, variable: there are minor tales, like the forgettable one about the giant tortoise (no, not esio trot, the other one), and autobiographical accounts of dahl’s life, including how his time as a fighter pilot in the second world war led him to start writing.
but the jewel in the book’s crown is the title story: the story of henry sugar, a selfish gambler who teaches himself to see through solid objects in order to cheat at cards and eventually falls for it. makes him a secular saint. It has all the sweetness and heart of the best of Dahl’s complete novels, but is tinged with an unmistakable melancholy. —constance grady
7) fantastic mr. fox (1968)
dahl took a short break from sympathizing with humans in the fantastic mr. fox, the only book on this list told from the perspective of a (particularly intelligent) group of animals. but the headline mr. Fox is exactly the kind of hero Dahl loves; that is, he is always the smartest fox in the room. It’s a slim volume, but the conflict between the fox family and three greedy farmers is rich in detail, with layers of tidbits covering everything from the bean farmer’s addiction to alcoholic cider to the elaborate dishes of Mrs. . Fox prepares with the loot that her fantastic husband triumphantly steals from under the noses of foolish farmers. —carolina framke
6) the witches (1983)
The Witches is an all-black horror story about a young boy who finds himself right in the middle of an international conference of evil women. Fortunately, he has a cunning and clever grandmother who has made him as witch-proof as any child can be.
With their elegant white gloves and long, pointed heels that mask hideous bodies, Dahl’s witches lurk in ordinary society, waiting to prey on innocent children. witches don’t flirt with outright misogyny but write in the sky “women are not what they seem!” But Dahl’s witches are compelling, fascinating, and powerful, and ultimately it is their power that turns a simple cautionary tale completely, resulting in one of his most memorable books. this fable of mice and (women) manages to be warm, whimsical and chilling at the same time; I reread it every Halloween and find myself deliciously scared each time. —aja roman
5) danny, world champion (1975)
dahl is great at describing wacky settings, but most of them aren’t places you’d want to live in: willy wonka’s chocolate factory would certainly maim you, in mr. In the fox’s lair you’d be attacked by murderous farmers, and the bfg’s homeland is home to scores of larger, less friendly giants.
no, if you had me pick one dahl book to live by, it would be danny. i want to hang out in that cozy trailer danny shares with his father while an apple tree gently tosses it, and eat roast pheasant (the food of kings, according to danny’s father). i want to learn top secret poaching tips and stuffed raisins in water to make pheasant bait. dahl never wrote another world that made you want to crawl into the pages and snuggle in there so badly. — Constance Grady
4) james and the giant peach (1961)
See Also: 10 Best Mentoring Books to Read in 2022
For a book that begins with a little boy struggling under the tyrannical rule of his abusive aunts, a straightforward Dickensian dilemma, James and the Giant Peach tell an unbelievably beautiful story. has an overlapping sense of wonder, as conveyed through the mysterious creatures that first grow the titular peach to the size of a mammoth, the jolly centipede who causes constant mischief with his 100 (or maybe just 42) shoes, And the short-melting giants that James and his new magical bug friends encounter when their puffy stone fruit floats skyward. But the engine that keeps this book moving, and the reason it continues to resonate so deeply, is not the giant peach but James’s giant heart. —carolina framke
3) matilda (1988)
if you were a fan of dahl when you were young, chances are you were a bookish kid with an active imagination. And what more glorious fantasy existed for all of us bookish and imaginative children than the idea that our minds could make miraculous things happen, even in the world beyond our heads?
Matilda’s Telekinesis may seem like part of today’s endless stream of superhero movies, but Dahl’s 1988 novel extols the virtues of brainpower over superpowers. Matilda is a thrilling tale of intelligence and wit triumphing over television-dulled ignorance, a love song to classic novels, and a thoroughly satisfying tale of a child who does justice to adults for indignities both small and large. they are part and parcel of being a boy. Plus, despite poor Bruce Bogtrotter’s unfortunate fate, he always leaves me wanting chocolate cake. —tanya pai
2) the bfg (1982)
dahl’s prose has a rhythm of its own, with quirky turns of phrase and a tendency to quickly move into rhyming lines colliding with each other to create something completely unique. And the BFG story of an orphaned girl and the big friendly giant she befriends may be Dahl’s best example of his gift for puns. the pages are littered with nonsense terms that nonetheless evoke exactly what they intend (you know exactly what you get with snozzcumbers); And the passage where the bfg explains to sophie what the humans of each country taste like is a witty delight.
and while there are some truly horrible aspects to the story: orphans locked in the basement with rats; giants that crush humans like popcorn, there are also many wonders. the idea that the stars have a silvery music of their own, and that our dreams come not from the workings of our unconscious minds, but from the whims of a gentle giant from a distant land, is as captivating and heartbreakingly beautiful for an adult as it is for her . it was in childhood. —tanya pai
1) charlie and the chocolate factory (1964)
There’s so much wonderful weirdness lurking in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, a heartwarming story of a poor boy whose goodness earns him the coveted golden ticket that allows him to meet Willy Wonka, the plum-and-green-clad chocolatier. His journey to Wonka’s factory is nothing short of a dream. There’s so much to see: Everlasting Gobstoppers! Snozzberries! Chocolate mixing via waterfall! And you get to eat nothing but sweets all day long! Sure, the entire factory definitely needs a visit from DEFRA, but what mysterious chocolate factory run by a sociopathic maniacal supergenius doesn’t?
charlie eventually wins a fantasy apprenticeship with the world’s largest candy maker, while the other kids on their tour of the factory, all greedy and spoiled, learn nasty karmic lessons about the dangers of selfishness. is a charming morality play based on chocolate, until you realize that wonka is home to a slave nation of Ewoks turned sweatshop workers.
Then there is the devastating poverty and literal hunger that Charlie and his family endure, the four grandparents who have shared the same bed without ever leaving it for 20 years, and the truly creepy endings that each of Charlie’s competitors encounter in the series. hands of the unflappable wonka. oh, and did I mention all the pedophile vibes and overt bdsm undertones? (remember the actual whips used to whip cream?)
Despite all this weirdness, and because of it, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory remains one of the most influential children’s books ever written. Without Charlie, we wouldn’t have Harry Potter or Coraline. his caricatures of spoiled children and narcissistic parents are infallible and timeless; his satirical takes on human nature are sharp and ruthless. Veruca Salt, Augustus Gloop, Mike Teavee, and Violet Beauregarde may be disgusting kids, but there’s a part of all of us that would be right next to them, reaching for that extra-special bubblegum. —aja roman
See Also: Best Books to Learn Chemistry in High School (2022 Guide)