Further Glimpses

William Shakespeare,
     Charles Dickens,
          Jane Austen,
               J.R.R. Tolkien,
                     the Bronte's,
                         Arthur Conan Doyle,
                              Agatha Christie,
                                   Roald Dahl, and, most especially,
                                        C.S. Lewis.

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These were the men and women who helped me, and millions of other happy readers, grow to love Literature. There are others: G.K. Chesterton; Anthony Trollope; Alexander McCall Smith; and, yes, J.K. Rowling. Countless hours spent with these fascinating authors, and their stories, have made their mark.

Roald Dahl was one of the many whom my children found utterly captivating.

When we arrived in England, in 1990, we had not heard of anyone named Roald Dahl. One of my sisters introduced us to his books. They seemed intriguing. James and the Giant Peach; Matilda; Danny, the Champion of the World. Hmmm. Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar were also highly recommended by her.

We so loved his absorbing tales, that I began to search for Mr. Dahl. We were living in England, why couldn't we arrange to meet the man? But as we began our search, we learned that he had recently died. Such a disappointment! We would have told him just how much we had gained by reading his intriguing exploits.

Thus began our adventures with Roald Dahl. I found cassette tapes of these books, and when we listened to them on car trips, our lives changed! No car arguing. No boredom. No wanting to stop and get out. Never! No one wanted out, while listening to a Dahl.

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And now our grandchildren have fallen in love with Mr. Dahl's tales, filled with characters both naughty and heroic (you really must begin with Fantastic Mr. Fox!).

An additional note: when I became a Middle School teacher in an inner city school, I read books aloud to students who came from gang backgrounds. And they did not want me to stop. They liked the quirky way Roald Dahl made his rather rascally characters come alive. Those boys got it. And they wanted more!

So - happy reading, to all of you! I can almost guarantee you will not be able to put that book down.


See you along the way!
the SconeLady




photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/collins_family/6833688727/">Christian Collins</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/">cc</a>

photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mytudut/5183865752/">MyTudut</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/">cc</a>