Farmers Boggis, Bunce and Bean are certainly the baddies. Mr Fox is the good guy, looking out for his foxy family (at least that's how he sees it). As with 94.8% of plans in Roald Dahl books, this one doesn't turn out quite the way George intended. George's grandma is such a groucher, a grumbler and a griper that he decides to mix up some medicine to try to cure her of her nastiness. James and the Giant PeachĪn everyday story of evil aunts (Sponge and Spiker), a giant, flying fruit (the peach of the title) inhabited by characterful, giant insects (including the Old-Green-Grasshopper) and, of course, James himself. Unfortunately, he's turned into a mouse before you can say Jack Robi- 4. (Did I say simple?) Fortunately, a boy overhears their villainous scheming. The Grand High Witch has a simple but fiendishly clever plan to rid England of its children: her hags will take over all the sweet shops, and sell doctored sweets to the children, turning them into mice. Then Matilda discovers that she has supernatural powers. School, ruled by the evil Miss Trunchbull, whose speciality is swinging children by their hair and throwing them out of the window, isn't much better. Her parents love conning people and watching telly. If I tell you any more I might spoil the story. The Twitsīeard-hating Dahl at his best in this tale of an ever-warring couple: repulsive Mr Twit and his equally repulsive glass-eyed wife. In no particular order, his top 10 favourites are: 1. A child asked me: 'Who will write Roald Dahl books now he's dead?' Fortunately, his books live on for whole new generations, while we oldies have the excuse of reading them to our children.' When he died, I was working in a library. This year, he's a judge for the Roald Dahl Funny prize, which has given him 'an excuse to immerse self in some wonderfully inventive fiction from some of today's funniest children's writers'.īuy Philip Ardagh's Roald Dahl Funny prize winner Stinking Rich and Just Plain Stinky at the Guardian bookshop He's also written funny stuff for radio (including BBC radio's first ever truly interactive drama) and is an 'irregular regular reviewer' of children's books for the Guardian. C hildren's author Philip Ardagh won the upper age category in last year's Roald Dahl Funny Prize for the first of his Grubtown Tales, and his Eddie Dickens adventures have been translated into 34 languages.

List of roald dahl short stories