Product Description

In Boy, Roald Dahl recounts his days as a child growing up in England. From his years as a prankster at boarding school to his envious position as a chocolate tester for Cadbury's, Roald Dahl's boyhood was as full of excitement and the unexpected as are his world-famous, best-selling books. Packed with anecdotes— some funny, some painful, all interesting— this is a book that's sure to please.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19695 in Books
• Published on: 1999-02-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

From School Library Journal
Grade 4-7-Fans of Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, and Matilda will be entranced by actor Derek Jacobi's amusing and captivating narration of the formative years of Dahl's life. Listening to the boyhood antics of this world famous and best-selling author provides a glimpse into where he got some of the plot ideas and inspirations for his most popular books. Dahl's upbringing was, by any standard, eccentric. In Boy (FS&G, 1984), the first of his two autobiographical titles (the second is Going Solo), he details many of his more unusual boyhood adventures, such as almost losing his nose in a car accident, the "Great Mouse Plot" of 1924, and boarding school antics in prose that will leave listeners laughing out loud. Jacobi's wry delivery is completely unselfconscious, and his pacing is perfect. This audio treat will appeal to Dahl fanatics of all ages.
Cindy Lombardo, Orrville Public Library, OH
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"Throughout my young days at school and just afterwards a number of things happened to me that I have never forgotten. . . . Some are funny. Some are painful. Some are unpleasant. I suppose that is why I have always remembered them so vividly." Vividly indeed: with the intimate, confiding tone of a born storyteller, Dahl turns each of his family/school memories into a miniature adventure, thriller, or horror-story - with the earthy emphasis on pleasure (food, comradeship), fear, and pain. After a brief, charming slice of family-history, explaining how his Norwegian parents came to live and prosper in Wales, Dahl gets right down to business. From the years at Llandaff Cathedral School (ages 7-9, 1923-25), there's a candy-by-candy tribute to the local sweet-shop, site of "The Great Mouse Plot": Roald and friends, fed up with the meanness of filthy sweet-shop-owner Mrs. Pratchett, secretly put a dead mouse in the Gobstopper jar - but suffered mightily for their glorious prank. (Mrs. P. reported the crime to the Headmaster - unleashing the first of many school-career canings, all described in gruesome, technicolor detail.) Summer vacations in Norway are also recalled in a mixture of ecstasy - the fish, the scenery - and agony: an operation for adenoid removal without any anesthetic. And the extremes of pleasure and pain continue through Dahl's years at two English boarding schools: homesickness, sadistic Matrons and Masters, practical jokes, the indignities of "fagging" (warming up the toilet-seat for older boys), chocolates. . . and, always, the dreaded Headmaster's cane. ("By now I am sure you will be wondering why I lay so much emphasis upon school beatings in these pages. The answer is that. . . I couldn't get over it. I never have got over it.") Some readers may be put off by Dahl's style here - chatty, bedtime-story-ish, deceptively avuncular. Others might not take to the British references (no special explanations for a US audience), or the particularly British approach - full of bitter humor and odd relish - to grisly, gory matters. But those who've appreciated Dahl in various forms will find both the master of chills and the lover of chocolate here - in a fine, juicy collage of funny/awful boyhood highlights. (Kirkus Reviews)

In Boy Dahl gives us an autobiographical account of his early life, his childhood in Norway and Wales, and his fearful experiences at public school. As a very small boy at St Peter's, he was terrified of the matron (who, he tells us breathlessly, 'disliked small boys very much indeed'), and even more scared of her enormous bosom, which looked like 'a battering-ram or the bows of an ice-breaker or maybe a couple of high-explosive bombs'. In Going Solo he recounts his days after leaving Repton, his secondary school, when he joined the Shell Company. When he complained that Egpyt was 'too dusty', he was sent to East Africa, where he had the hair-raising adventures he had longed for, experiences that taught him 'how to look after myself in a way that no young person can ever do by staying in civilisation'. When the shadow of war stretched across Africa, he joined the RAF and became a daring fighter pilot across the Mediterranean. Dahl tells these tales of his youth with that strange blend of innocence and fascination for life's horrors which hallmarks his fiction. A thrilling read. (Kirkus UK)

About the Author
Roald Dahl is one of the most successful and well-known of all children's writers. His books, which are read by children the world over, include James and the Giant Peach; Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; The Witches and Matilda.

Customer Reviews

Pass the Cadbury's Dairy Milk Chocolate bar, please!
BOY: TALES OF CHILDHOOD was a thoroughly enjoyable autobiography about the early years of British author Roald Dahl. I used to wonder how he came by such an unusual first name until I read that his family originally came from Norway. All of that and more is written in this small book, and some 81 five star reviews preceding mine attest to how truly entertaining it really is. Of particular interest to me were his years in several Public Schools (We here in the US know them as Private or Prep Schools.) where he excelled in sports and suffered, at times, the bullying and corporal punishment that was mercilessly doled out to young boys by sadistic Head Masters and Upper Grade Students alike.

Dahl's book is divided into four parts: 1. Starting-point (His "Papa and Mama" and kindergarten 1922-3), 2. Llandaff Cathedral School (1923-5), 3. St Peter's School (1925-9), and 4. Repton School and Shell Oil Company (1929-36). So, the book covers the years from his birth in 1916 to his graduation from Repton School and employment with the Shell Oil Company in Africa prior to the beginning of WW2. It concludes with Roald joining the RAF in 1939 to train as a fighter pilot. Dahl continued his autobiographical adventures during the war in a follow-up book entitled GOING SOLO.

Although Roald Dahl passed away in 1990, his books are still very popular with children and adults of all ages. I highly recommend this wonderful book...and everything else this incredibly talented man has ever written.

P.S. Many family photos, bits and pieces from hand-written letters by the author, and amusing pen and ink drawings by British artist Quentin Blake are included.

Roald Dahl's life
My twin eight year old sons are just loving all the Roald Dahl books. This one in particular fascinates them as it is the story of his own life.

I've lost track of how often I've read this book
I adore reading and devour about 3-4 books a month, and I can safely say this is my favorite book of all time. I first read Boy when I was around 8. Now, nearly twenty years later, I still have that same copy. The cover is hanging on by a thread and the binding is in sad shape, but it sums up how I feel about the book: I have read it to death. No one tells a story or turns a phrase quite like Dahl. His descriptions of homemade Norwegian ice cream alone make the book worth reading! While not recommended for very young children due to some disturbing images (corporal punishment at school, a scary trip to the dentist), anyone who loves vivid, memorable, hilarious memoirs should read this book...over and over again!