12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful Author biography for young readers, 10 May 2004
This review is from: Boy: Tales of Childhood (Paperback)
It’s an accepted fact that most young readers prefer fantasy to biography. If given the choice between the ‘Diary of Anne Frank’ or the latest J K Rowling or Jacqueline Wilson, few children would choose the biography, despite it being an essential addition to their library. However, Roald Dahl’s true-life stories of his childhood are the ideal cross-over, helping the young reader discover that truth can be as fascinating as fiction.
As always, Roald Dahl’s style of writing is highly accessible and great fun to read. Millions of children are familiar with his hilarious fantasy stories (Matilda, Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, The Witches), so are more likely to read this slightly more serious book than they would other biographical material.
‘Going Solo’, Dahl’s sequel to ‘Boy’ is one of the most gripping little books I have ever read. I strongly recommend both books to children of all ages … adults too.
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32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Boy by Roald Dahl, 20 Nov 2005
By A Customer
This review is from: Boy: Tales of Childhood (Paperback)
Lots of people know Roald Dahl by his fantastic books of Charlie and the chocolate factory or James and the giant peach. If wanted to find information about his early life, this book would be the place to look.
The Boy is sort of an early childhood autobiography. He says this isn’t a biography but really it is. The story is told in time order. For example a story about Roald’s Dad is told before Roald Dahl being born. If you enjoy short true stories then this is the book to read.
The piece of text is in sections Starting Point, Llandaff Cathedral School, St Peter’s and Repton and Shell. The sections are then put into stories. For example The Great Mouse Plot or the First Day. It also tells us the years it happened like St Peter’s; 1925-1929 (age 9-13). There are a lot of real life photos of Roald Dahl and his family. There are also he own drawing in there. For example there is some of Mrs Prachett. The stories in the book might be real or might be fictionalised. I just don’t know because this book wasn’t written at the time it was happening it was written about memories and these memories might be wrong. This book can tell you what schools were like at the 20s and 30s.
This piece of text has lots of stories so you don’t need to have a lot of time to read a whole story. You also need to be able to read different kinds of stories with cruelty in. You can read these stories to people because they are very entertaining. I don’t think you could make a play out of it like Peter Pan.
I read the text by myself. I told one story to my brothers and they really enjoyed it. I suppose you can only read this book if you know who Roald Dahl is. You don’t have to have read any of his books because it’s only about his childhood and not his career.
This book is really enjoyable and the stories he wrote in this book are brilliant. You find out memories of Roald’s childhood. If I had to write out a book about my childhood, it would never be as good as this book. Firstly because I haven’t even finished my childhood and secondly I haven’t had that many adventures.
The reason this book has been published is…………
1. Roald Dahl is a fabulous author and people will want to know about his childhood.
2. It has great Graphology
3. The audience can actually imagine what Roald Dahl looked like.
4. It has great stories which make you glue to the book.
5. It tells you about his family and friends.
Thanks for reading my first review. I hope I’ve encouraged you to read The Boy. Trust me if you don’t read this book you will miss out. Also if you’ve got a project about Roald Dahl this is the place to look.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Serious reading for all ages, 25 April 2009
I read this and then my nine year old son read this and we both loved it. Roald Dahl wrote to his mother every week from boarding school and these letters are a source for this autobiography. His father died. His sister died. But Dahl is an English schoolboy capable of making the most sidelong references to his emotions. What he has aimed to do is pick out the most vivid and extreme incidents of his youth that have the ability to carry over time. The time he put a dead mouse in Mrs Pratchett's sweet shop jar and got whipped for it. Wonderful holidays in Norway. Having his adenoids taken out without anaesthetic. The injustice of being whipped at school for something he had not done. His love of photography. He conveys a sense that it is possible to overcome trauma by turning it into a funny story. And he made my son outraged about corporal punishment!
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