Roald Dahl Collection

A Roald Dahl collection – a box containing all of his most well-loved children’s books – would make a fantastic Christmas present or birthday gift. Last Christmas I purchased a Roald Dahl collection for one of my nephews. He absolutely loved it. Nearly a year has passed and he is still getting great pleasure from the gift. Not only does he enjoy reading these Roald Dahl books on his own, but he also looks forward to hearing these stories read to him at bedtimes. Of all the Roald Dahl books in the collection, his favourite novel was James and the Giant Peach, but he also really liked George’s Marvellous Medicine, Fantastic Mr Fox and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

I haven’t come across a child who hasn’t enjoyed at least one Roald Dahl story. Lots of adults can’t see the appeal, but they’re not meant to! Roald Dahl wrote the books for children, and it is children who adore his stories. The great thing about Roald Dahl books is that you can read them more than once. The stories are not ruined by knowing the endings.

There are several Roald Dahl collections on the market. Most contain about ten books. These are usually Roald Dahl’s most well-known stories. In addition to these novels mentioned above, the collections often contain: Danny the Champion of the World, The Twits, Esio Trot, The Witches, Matilda and The BFG.

Of course, you could always assemble your own Roald Dahl collection by purchasing your favourite Roald Dahl children’s books and presenting them in a box of your choice. However, this may work out more expensive than buying a ready made Roald Dahl collection.

So, if you can think what to buy for a child this Christmas, you could do a lot worse than getting them a Roald Dahl collection or a Roald Dahl treasury.

Facts About Roald Dahl Books

At Kids Book Zone we have produced several posts full of information about Roald Dahl, giving facts about his life and writing habits, but we have not yet focused on his books and his marvellous charcaters. Where, for instance, did the idea for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory come from? What inspired Roald Dahl to write about James and the Giant Peach? Where did Roald Dahl get his names from? All these questions (and lots more) will hopefully be answered below.

• Roald Dahl had started a third Charlie Bucket book, Charlie and the White House. Unfortunately he diead before finishing it. He was also planning to write a book about a girl who could communictae with her dog.
• It took Roald Dahl about one year to write each of his children's books.
• Roald Dahl used to test out his story ideas on his own children as bedtime stories.
• When Roald Dahl's nephew Nicholas first read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory he thought it was boring. After hearing this, Roald Dahl made some changes to his story!
• You never get to find out the names of the main characters in The Witches or The Magic Finger.
• When he was younger, Roald Dahl loved reading comics.
• Roald Dahl followed a rigid daily timetable. He would always eat breafast in bed and open his post. After that he would work at his books in his writing hut from 10:30 - 12:00, and again from 16:00 to 18:00.
• Roald Dahl never cleaned his writing hut. It became full of dust and spiderwebs.
• Esio Trot spells tortoise backwards.
• Roald Dahl was good friends with the creator of James Bond, Ian Fleming.
• Rolad Dahl made up 283 new words. Some of them appeared in The BFG, but not all of them made it.
• Roald Dahl's first children's book was called The Gremlins.
• Roald Dahl had an ideas book. He used to jot down all of his interesting thoughts in this book.
• Ernest Hemingway and Roald Dahl were good friends.
• James and the Giant Peach was nearly named James and the Giant Cherry. It was decided that a peach would be more juicy.
• The Magic Finger by Roald Dahl was first called The Almost Ducks.
• He used to plan the opening sentences to his book very carefully, often rewriting them over and over again until he was happy with them.
• Roald Dahl kept a diary in a lunchbox that was always locked and hidden.
• Roald Dahl often based his charcaters on people he had met, but he never revealed their identity.
• Roald Dahl thought that writing for really young children was hard.
• Roald Dahl used a homemade writing board. He rested it on his lap in his writing hut, and wrote most of his most well-known books upon it.