Does the name Roald Dahl ring a bell? No? Does the name ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ ring a bell? I’m sure it does. The immensely popular children’s movie, ‘Willy Wonka and Chocolate Factory’ is based on this book ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’.

And Roald Dahl is the author of ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’. Dare I say the book is better than the movie?

To tell you something about Roald Dahl before I move on to talk about his books - Roald Dahl was born in 1916 and died at the age of 74. He was a British novelist, short story writer and screen play writer. Born in Wales to Norwegian parents he served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War.

Now shall we enter the amazing world of Roald Dahl’s books?

Let me first list out a few of his most popular children’s books………………

· The Twits

· Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

· James and the giant Peach

· Matilda

· The Witches

· The BFG

………………… and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is Roald Dahl’s most famous book, it’s about Charlie Bucket and four other children who win a trip round a magical chocolate factory where all sorts of fabulous things happen. The story has been made into a film twice, most recently with Johnny Depp playing the factory's owner, Mr. Willy Wonka.

Dahl's children's works are written from a child’s point of view. The stories involve adult villains who hate and mistreat children. Dahl’s books were often criticized for its black humour and grotesque scenarios, including gruesome violence.

Here’s Dahl’s reply to this criticism -

“When you're writing a book, with people in it as opposed to animals, it is no good having people who are ordinary, because they are not going to interest your readers at all. Every writer in the world has to use the characters that have something interesting about them and this is even more true in children's books. I find that the only way to make my characters really interesting to children is to exaggerate all their good or bad qualities, and so if a person is nasty or bad or cruel, you make them very nasty, very bad, very cruel. If they are ugly, you make them extremely ugly. That, I think, is fun and makes an impact.”

Roald Dahl’s books will be enjoyed by children of all ages; adults included, and deserve a prominent place in every child's library.