Happy Birthday, Roald
Born today in 1916, one of the great children's authors ever
There's no earthly way of knowing
Which direction we are going
There's no knowing where we're rowing
Or which way the river's flowing
Is it raining? Is it snowing?
Is a hurricane a-blowing?
Not a speck of light is showing
So the danger must be growing
Are the fires of hell a-glowing?
Is the grisly reaper mowing?
Yes, the danger must be growing
'Cause the rowers keep on rowing
And they're certainly not showing
Any signs that they are slowing!
3 Comments:
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At 3:52 PM, September 13, 2009
Anonymous had this to say...
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At 3:56 PM, September 13, 2009
The Ridger, FCD had this to say...
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At 11:28 AM, September 17, 2009
Anonymous had this to say...
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<-- Older Post ^ Home Newer Post -->I like Willie Wonka, too. Dahl's not bad either. Actually, I prefer British children's authors to Americans. I don't know what it is about the Brits, but their stories are much more engaging than the American ones.
Yes, they are, aren't they? It's like they write to engage their audience's mind instead of just entertain them - or preach.
I'm capable of some passionate rants about the crimes committed against Dahl's books by truly abominable American movie adaptations. Not all adaptations were bad - I liked "Matilda" - but what those idiots did to "The Witches" was truly a crime against literature. The contrast is most easily seen in the endings.
The ending in the movie is that a witch turns good and turns the boy back into a human being. This ending is a cliche and a hack.
The ending in the book is that the boy realises that as a mouse he has a much shorter life expectancy than he did as a human and will probably die around about the same time as his grandmother - and that this suits him just perfectly. This ending has something profound to say about human adaptability, and can help a child to explore aspects of their own innermost emotions that society isn't generally willing to mention. (It's more than a tad kinky, I believe.)
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