I started Ronald Dahl's Witches yesterday. I don't read tons of this younger YA and I've never read Dahl before, is this typical for him? one of his best? worst?

Have any parents had good/bad/indifferent experiences with your children reading it?

It's a very good Roald Dahl, though not among his select best (my opinion). I'd rate books like Matilda, Danny The Champion of the World and The BFG ahead of it. Emmett and I read many Dahl books this year, and it was a great experience for him. Aside from Captain Underpants and Superfudge, those were the first books he read. He loved the anarchic streak in Dahl, and the playful language.

I was not aware that it was a movie. I'd think that'd be pretty scary. Maybe I am forgetting what I liked as a child. I am thinking this would be for an early elementary age 6-8, right?

Superfudge

Did you read Superfudge first?

Hey, Hec...you and Emmett ever read The Great Brain series?

If not, I recommend it. Emmett is so like the title character.

Hey, Hec...you and Emmett ever read The Great Brain series?

Dude, I was just trying to remember the name of that series in the shower on Monday.

THANK YOU!

Also, trying to remember where mine were stored so I could re-read 'em.

Also, trying to remember where mine were stored so I could re-read 'em.

I have to buy them, meself. Read them in school lo these many moons ago, but they've stuck in my head e'er since.

I was not aware that it was a movie. I'd think that'd be pretty scary.

Starring Anjelica Huston! Also, small role by Rowan Atkinson! I suppose it'd be pretty scary for the young'uns. 6-8 seems a little young, unless they already like this kind of stuff.

Maybe I am forgetting what I liked as a child. I am thinking this would be for an early elementary age 6-8, right?

I think so. I'd never read it as a kid and found the ending extremely jarring -- but I can also remember reading a lot of terribly bloodthirsty stuff as a child that I really couldn't tolerate now. My sense of Dahl after reading 5 or 6 of his books in one great gollop was that he was consciously writing for a very young and bloodthirsty audience. There was stuff structurally that didn't fully hang together or wrap itself up the way my grown-up brain expected novels to, but it clearly didn't bother Emmett at all.

And now I've made myself curious to go seek out an adult Dahl novel and see how it feels alongside one of his children's novels.

The BFG is such a charming, massively splendiferous book in so many ways, almost as many as the BFG himself.

We have a regular freelance writer on the journal I work on named Richard Dahl. So I've been reading the above, waiting for references to Dahl's articles on perchlorate and the environmentally appropriate disposal of computer equiptment.

Woohoo! Kidlit discussion!

I think Witches is probably the most disturbing of Dahl's books, in a lot of ways. Which doesn't mean that his others aren't disturbing (there's a reason Tim Burton is remaking Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in his signature style), but it went far beyond the norm.

In my opinion, the best Roald Dahl book is Matilda. But that may be because, as with all really smart kid characters, I identified with her a lot, and admired her, and wanted to read as much as I could about her. James and the Giant Peach was also a favorite.

The Great Brain was one of the best series ever. My favorite was the one when he was at school, that was brill.

Superfudge and related were hilarious.

I was a big fan of Cam Jansen, too. Though, looking back, I'm not really sure why.