Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

The ghosts are in the house

Roald Dahl’s Book of Ghost Stories by Roald Dahl

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Do you like Roald Dahl? Why do you like him? His funny (to some) stories? The weirdness? The messages? The writing style? Well, forget all of that when you approach Roald Dahl’s Book of Ghost Stories. Long story short, Dahl edited the stories in this collection to find “the best of thriller/ghost short stories.” They are classically presented, and if you told me they were written by people like Dickens, or O’Henry, or even Poe I would not be surprised. I am assuming I have […]

You Can’t Go Back

Matilda by Roald Dahl

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Matilda Wormwood is a precocious five year old, a word wonder who is reading everything she can get her hands on at an early age. Her parents don’t appreciate any of this and see her as an annoyance. During her first days of school she is introduced to Miss Trunchbull, the awful headmistress at Crunchem Hall. Miss Trunchbull was a hammer thrower in her younger years and a terrifying figure to all the kids at school. She despises children and thinks nothing of launching them […]

Treat yourself! There are no tricks!

Roald Dahl: Trick or Treat: With Lift-the-Flap Surprises! by Roald Dahl

The Power of Yeti by Rebecca Van Slyke

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Sure, I like candy for Halloween, but I also like books. So, if I can treat myself with a book or two at that time of year, it is great (okay I’ll be honest, any time of the year, and you know it’s more like 13). However, I do not think Halloween (or Christmas, or St. Patrick, or even first day of school) books should be limited to one time of year. They are great no matter when you read them. And these two books […]

Aimless Dud

Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl

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In my review of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I was excited to re-read the sequel, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl. I haven’t read the sequel since I was a kid, so I was hoping it was as magical as the first book. It was not. There are basically three sections to the book. In the first section, Charlie, Willy Wonka, and Charlie’s family rocket to outer space in the chocolate factory’s glass elevator, not that that was their initial plan. […]

Still Holds Up (Now with Less Racism)

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

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Roald Dahl was an awful, awful person. He was wildly antisemitic, racist, and so disagreeable one of his wives called him “Roald the Rotten.” He’s a classic case of “separate the artist from the art,” because his whimsical, captivating (but always with a dark side) books seem to bely his misanthropic personality. I thought about this the whole time I was reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Charlie is a sweet, good little boy who lives in abject poverty with his parents and four grandparents. […]

Do People Who Ban Books Even Read Them?

James & the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

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This book was in the “Banned Books” display at my library, so I picked it up on my way to the check-out counter. The last time I read James and the Giant Peach, I think I may have been in the 4th grade, so this was really like reading it for the first time. As an adult, I have to say the descriptions of the child abuse inflicted on James by his aunts was really disturbing, so I was shocked to find out that’s not why […]



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