Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes

From Publishers Weekly
This spring, two Roald Dahl classics reappear in collector's editions. In Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes, illus. in full color by Quentin Blake, originally published in 1982, the author puts his distinctive satirical spin on six traditional tales including "Snow White" ("From now on, Queen, you're Number Two. Snow White is prettier than you!" says the Magic Mirror) and "The Three Little Pigs." Danny the Champion of the World, originally published in 1975, also illus. with pen-and-ink drawings by Blake, tells the story of a nine-year-old boy learning the art of poaching at his beloved father's knee (the BFG also makes an appearance here). Both volumes close with an interview given by the author in 1988, two years before his death. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


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Budding comparative lit majors will love these fractured fairytales. The stories cry out for performance assessment. Older readers will appreciate the familiar morals run amok, which are good fun minus preaching. In fact, it's difficult to know the villains from the heroes. Nobody is either all good or bad. Red Riding Hood hunts endangered species; Goldilocks is a delinquent accused of breaking and entering. The modern day monsters are scarier too. Child abuse and concealed weapons overshadow hungry giants and wolves, and when characters die, they stay dead. Read aloud is best. It makes it easy to find the rhyme and young listeners will have questions about the text. Originally published in 1982, Dahl mirrored society with revolting accuracy￯﾿ﾽjust what good literature should do. Based on that criterion, the book may become a gentle classic. For the present, some stories are PG for language and inappropriate in the elementary classroom. 2003 (orig. 1982), Puffin Books/Penguin Putnam,


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