Roald Dahl - The Roald Dahl Treasury

UK | USA | Canada | Ireland | Australia

India | New Zealand | South Africa

Puffin Books is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com.

www.penguin.co.uk

www.puffin.co.uk

www.ladybird.co.uk

First published by Jonathan Cape 1997
Published by Puffin Books 2003
This edition published 2016

Edition copyright Roald Dahl Nominee Ltd and Random House UK Ltd, 1997

Text copyright Roald Dahl Nominee Ltd except On publishing Roald Dahl
copyright Tom Maschler and The Hut copyright Ralph Steadman

Illustrations copyright Quentin Blake except copyright Patrick Benson .

Photographs copyright Jan Baldwin .

The Authors Eye copyright International Merchandising Corporation

The moral right of the authors and illustrators has been asserted

Roald Dahls titles published in hardback by Jonathan Cape Ltd:

Danny, the Champion of the World; The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar; The Enormous Crocodile; The Twits; Georges Marvellous Medicine; Revolting Rhymes; Dirty Beasts; The BFG; The Witches; The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me; Boy; Going Solo; Matilda; Rhyme Stew; Esio Trot; The Minpins; My Year; Revolting Recipes; Even More Revolting Recipes

Titles published in hardback by Puffin Books: James and the Giant Peach; Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; Fantastic Mr Fox.

All paperback editions are published by Puffin Books except Revolting Recipes and Even More Revolting Recipes which are published by Red Fox.

Published in this Treasury for the first time: Letter from America, , copyright Roald Dahl Nominee Ltd, 1997

The BFG Stamp is reproduced by permission of The Post Office
The Roald Dahl Guide to Railway Safety by permission of The British Railway Board
Roald Dahl, Author by permission of Puffin Books

ISBN: 978-0-141-37843-5

Your story starts here

Do you love books and discovering new stories?
Then puffin.co.uk is the place for you

Thrilling adventures, fantastic fiction and laugh-out-loud fun

Brilliant videos featuring your favourite authors and characters

Exciting competitions, news, activities, the Puffin blog and SO MUCH more

puffin.co.uk

It all started with a scarecrow

Puffin is over seventy years old. Sounds ancient, doesnt it? But Puffin has never been so lively. Were always on the lookout for the next big idea, which is how it began all those years ago.

Penguin Books was a big idea from the mind of a man called Allen Lane, who in 1935 invented the quality paperback and changed the world. And from great Penguins, great Puffins grew, changing the face of childrens books forever.

The first four Puffin Picture Books were hatched in 1940 and the first Puffin story book featured a man with broomstick arms called Worzel Gummidge. In 1967 Kaye Webb, Puffin Editor, started the Puffin Club, promising to make children into readers . She kept that promise and over 200,000 children became devoted Puffineers through their quarterly instalments of Puffin Post.

Many years from now, we hope youll look back and remember Puffin with a smile. No matter what your age or what youre into, theres a Puffin for everyone. The possibilities are endless, but one thing is for sure: whether its a picture book or a paperback, a sticker book or a hardback, if its got that little Puffin on it its bound to be good.

www.puffin.co.uk

If I tell you that there has never been anyone the least bit like Roald Dahl you might think that an exaggeration. And yet it is true. For a start he was extremely tall, and as he held his head slightly to one side and smiled, it was as if he were up in the clouds, looking down upon the world. He lived life to the full and greatly enjoyed the funny side of it, though he could also be exceedingly serious. Something special about Roald was that whatever he felt, he did so more deeply than the rest of us.

But what distinguished Roald most of all is that he was, quite simply, a magician. Those who were lucky enough to get to know him experienced his magic powers directly. And for others, perhaps Roald became a writer so that he could cast his spells by telling them stories. He was able to catch readers young and old in the first sentence of a story and to hold them to the very end. This way he reached hundreds, thousands, even millions of people.

Not content with the status of a magician, Roald also developed the most original imaginative powers. Let me give you just a couple of examples: Who else could have invented the BFG and then gone on to make him blow dreams through the window of little Sophies bedroom? Or we have the thrilling ending of The Witches, where a little boy who has been turned into a mouse, plans his travels accompanied by his grandmother, exterminating his witch enemies all around the world.

I should explain where I come in. It was my good fortune to be Roalds publisher. This means that when he finished a manuscript he would send it to me. I would put other work aside and read it right away. Then we would discuss the text and the jacket picture and the illustrations and anything else which was to become a part of the finished book. I was delighted by almost everything Roald wrote but in my opinion, his most wonderful books of all were his novels and I got the feeling that it was in writing these that he most enjoyed himself. I remember him saying to me that he found picture books, for the younger readers, with the fewest words, the hardest to write. Although I was sometimes able to make some useful suggestions about a manuscript, the contribution of which I am proudest is to have introduced Roald to Quentin Blake who became his principal illustrator and his good friend.