Roald Dahl Author Study

Not everyone knows the name Roald Dahl, but they surely have heard of his books. From 1943 until his death in 1990, Dahl wrote many childrens books and become one of the most successful children's authors of all time. Some of our favorite books by Dahl are described below, and could be included in an author study within your classroom. We hope you enjoy our selections! The descriptions are from Amazon.com, where you can also read reviews of each book. We have added some lesson ideas of our own. Also be sure to check out the Roald Dahl website to read his biography, get some tips for teaching, and of course have some fun.
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The Witches

We have created a podcast of the introduction to The Witches. We hope you enjoy it!

This Roald Dahl classic tells the scary, funny and imaginative tale of a seven-year-old boy who has a run-in with some real-life witches! "In fairy tales witches always wear silly black hats and black cloaks and they ride on broomsticks. But this is not a fairy tale. This is about REAL WITCHES." Witches, as our hero learns, hate children. With the help of a friend and his somewhat-magical grandmother, our hero tries to expose the witches before they dispose of him.

This would be a great book to have students practice making predictions. Students could also write short stories about someone they think might be a witch. This a very fun book with lots of possibilities.
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Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Willy Wonka's famous chocolate factory is opening at last! But only five lucky children will be allowed inside. And the winners are: Augustus Gloop, Veruca Salt, Violet Beauregarde, Mike Teavee, and Charlie Bucket, Our Hero, a boy who is honest and kind, brave and true, and good and ready for the wildest time of his life!
This is a well loved book and would be excellent to compare and contrast with the movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. The movie has a lot of differences that could be discussed as a class or used in a Venn Diagram. Students could also be asked to create a new candy for Mr. Wonka and design an advertisement for it. There is also a sequel to this, Charlie and the Glass Elevator. Students could write a next chapter for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, then read the sequel and see how close they were to what Dahl wrote.
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Fantastic Mr. Fox
Fantastic Mr. Fox is on the run! The three meanest farmers around are out to get him. Fat Boggis, squat Bunce, and skinny Bean have joined forces, and they have Mr. Fox and his family surrounded. What they don't know is that they're not dealing with just any fox; Mr. Fox would never surrender. But only the most fantastic plan ever can save him now.

This story can be compared with Aesops Fables and other traditional tales. A wonderful lesson idea using this as a mentor text can be found on roalddahl.com, or by clicking here.
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Matilda
Matilda is a genius who not only has to deal with loud, obnoxious, idiot parents who scapegoat her for everything but with "the Trunchbull"! "The Trunchbull" is actually Miss Trunchbull the ex-Olympic hammer-thrower, Head Mistress of Matilda's school who has terrorized generations of students and teachers. When "the Trunchbull" goes after Miss Honey, the one teacher, the one person, who supports and believes in Matilda, our heroine decides it's time to fight back. Her parents and "the Trunchbull" don't stand a chance!
Matilda makes a great mentor text for building character and using descriptive words. Click here to see a lesson idea for this. There was also a movie based on this book, which you could choose to compare and contrast with students.
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The BFG
Big Friendly Giant! This BFG doesn't seem all that friendly at first as he creeps down a London street, snatches little Sophie out of her bed, and bounds away with her to giant land. And he's not really all that big when compared with his evil, carnivorous brethren, who bully him for being such an oddball runt. After all, he eats only disgusting snozzcumbers, and while the other giants are snacking on little boys and girls, he's blowing happy dreams in through their windows. What kind of way is that for a giant to behave?
This book can be used to look at made up words, and have students make up their own words in a story. Click here to see a lesson idea using this concept. This would also be interesting to compare to classic tales, such as Jack and the Beanstalk. Students could compare the Giants from each story.
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Other amazing books by Roald Dahl include:
Boy
Danny the Champion of the World
George's Marvelous Medicine
James and the Giant Peach
Revolting Rhymes
The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me
The Magic Finger
The Twits