It's Roald Dahl Day!!!!

You may have thought that the only thing special about today is that it is Friday the 13th. Well, you are wrong, because September 13th is officially Roald Dahl Day!!

 If you are scratching your head and wondering "Who is Roald Dahl?" let me help. Willy Wonka, Charlie Bucket, Matilda, the BFG, The Enormous Crocodile, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, Oompa Loompas... Do any of these ring a bell. If not then I am truly sorry for the terrible injustice that has been done to you.

Lucky for you it is never too late and you are never too old to revel in Roald Dahl's magical genius. In my humble opinion, Dahl is the greatest children's author to have ever existed. His wit, talent, creativity, and humor are incomparable. Just in case I was being too subtle in my praise, I absolutely adore every word Dahl has written and I have read and reread his books more times than I can count.

What makes Dahl so amazing? In a letter Dahl wrote to The Writer magazine in 1975 he tells us in his own words:

What makes a good children’s writer? The writer must have a genuine and powerful wish not only to entertain children, but to teach them the habit of reading…[He or she] must be a jokey sort of fellow…[and] must like simple tricks and jokes and riddles and other childish things. He must be unconventional and inventive. He must have a really first-class plot. He must know what enthralls children and what bores them. They love being spooked. They love ghosts. They love the finding of treasure. The love chocolates and toys and money. They love magic. They love being made to giggle. They love seeing the villain meet a grisly death. They love a hero and they love the hero to be a winner. But they hate descriptive passages and flowery prose. They hate long descriptions of any sort. Many of them are sensitive to good writing and can spot a clumsy sentence. They like stories that contain a threat. “D’you know what I feel like?” said the big crocodile to the smaller one. “I feel like having a nice plump juicy child for my lunch.” They love that sort of thing. What else do they love? New inventions. Unorthodox methods. Eccentricity. Secret information. The list is long. But above all, when you write a story for them, bear in mind that they do not possess the same power of concentration as an adult, and they become very easily bored or diverted. Your story, therefore, must tantalize and titillate them on every page and all the time that you are writing you must be saying to yourself, “Is this too slow? Is it too dull? Will they stop reading?” To those questions, you must answer yes more often than you answer no. [If not] you must cross it out and start again.

I know that I have gushed extensively so I will stop now, but if you have never read a book by Roald Dahl please, please do so. Better yet, if you have a child or a grandchild read a Dahl book aloud to them. I promise that you will not be disappointed. If you are interested in learning more about Dahl, his life and his books you can check out the official Roald Dahl website here.