Roald Dahl-Themed Book Recs for Very Big Kids

Hey, want to read something about Roald Dahl that isn't tedious debate about his books being re-written by the 'wokist blob'? You may not be alone! 

Maybe you aren't defending the problematic nature of some of Dahl's material, but also still have fondness for books that defined thousands - if not millions - of childhoods? Maybe, as a mature adult, you can admit that while he had some nasty beliefs, his life wasn't always a picnic? Maybe you are crazy enough to hold the simultaneous ideas that children shouldn't be taught that ugly = evil but that the idea of blowing up a mean old lady with household products is hilarious for the average six year old? Maybe you feel like a normal person about it all. 

We're all just tired. 

Anyway, if you are one of these crazy fools who see in shades of grey, this is the article for you. 

I've put together a book rec list inspired by popular Dahl novels, trying my best to match the themes and tone of those books. Surely the one thing that we can credit Dahl for is making us want to read more...

Fantastic Mr. Fox: Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree

I'm going to start with an unpopular opinion: I hate Wes Anderson's adaptation of Fantastic Mr Fox. Stamping his own style on it took away from the essence of the book, which is not the trickery, but the feasting and unmistakeable 'be gay do crime' attitude. Years later the book still conjures up the rich taste of cider and goose on my tongue, and the desire to gather together with my fellow gays and steal from wealthy bigots. 

Legends & Lattes is a book that nails these sensations, as an Orc sets out to start her own coffee shop. No one knows what a coffee shop is and no one wants her to succeed - but she does, one caffeinated beverage at a time. Of course, one can't face down one's coffee shop enemies without a found family and a girlfriend... and luckily she doesn't have to.  

Matilda: Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

Matilda (the first 'novel' I ever read entirely on my own) is about a girl genius. Derided by her family, and oppressed by her headmistress, she sets out to right the wrongs she sees around her with her telekinetic powers. If you haven't read the book, you've seen the Mara Wilson movie, or the Tim Minchin musical - both of which lean into the darker elements of neglect and abuse, as well as the escapism stories can provide. 

Lessons in Chemistry is about chemistry genius Elizabeth Zott (what a Dahlian name!) who is likewise abused and limited by the sexist 60s landscape she is working in. Unexpectedly finding herself a single mother, she sets out to survive on her own terms - becoming the unexpected star of a cookery program and causing a scientific craze to sweep the housewives of America. Just as Matilda's injustices and abuses feel overwhelming to a child, Elizabeth's are brutal and painfully familiar. The talking dog is a delightfully bizarre touch. 

The Witches: The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix

While I have nostalgia for Matilda, The Witches is probably my favourite Dahl story overall, helped along by an utterly fantastic adaptation in 1990 which seemed determined to start kids on the Dahl-to-Horror-Fan-Pipeline posthaste. The story of a boy trapped in a hotel with a cabal of child-hating witches, and avenues for help dwindling, has been open for re-interpretation. The recent Anne Hathaway adaptation made a lot of bad choices, but re-framing it as a story of black oppression, and a discussion over which kids 'matter' to society worked incredibly well. 

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires has similar themes - a fearsome monster preying on black children that white, middle-class Charleston ignores, and a woman who needs to make herself believed even though her story seems utterly mad. Just like the hero of The Witches, the vampire changes her in a way that makes her even less likely to believed, and like him she needs a practical female presence to help her save the day. 

Esio Trot: All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot

Time to lighten up a bit... this is one of the shorter books, less popular with all but the most tortoise-mad kids because of all the old-people romance. An elderly man falls for the lady in the flat below him, and begins a plan to win her over that involves the purchase of oodles of tortoises. There was a very sweet adaptation with Dame Judi Dench and Dustin Hoffman (and James Corden, there - as usual - for unknown reasons). 

All Creatures Great and Small - memoir of Yorkshire vet James Herriot - is the perfect follow up to this, combining a cosy pre-war Yorkshire, mild animal drama, and a sweet love story. Like Esio Trot, it's a little old fashioned, but you'll be too distracted by the animals to mind. 

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix

Another Grady Hendrix book... but it's very hard to argue that Charlie and the Chocolate Factory isn't a horror story at heart. It was actually my least favourite Roald Dahl novel, possibly because being poor didn't look like that to me, and I always had deep suspicions about the logistics of two couples living in one bed, which has only grown with time. 

Also no one needed a sequel in space. 

Where Charlie and his fellow winners must tour a strange factory, Horrorstor has IKEA workers forced to spend the night in the store. The main characters are also poor - either worn down by capitalism or clinging to it for dear life - and are there to investigate the 'vandalism' happening while the store is closed. One-by-one they are picked off, with the choice to simply run away curtailed by the fear of not being paid for the shift, or even fired. The store is possessed by the experimental prison it is built on, theming the punishments to the victim's moral failings. Wonka would surely approve.