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Roald Dahl, known for his ridiculous children’s stories, was born in Wales in
1916, to Norwegian parents. His father died when Dahl was at a young age. He was a
troubled child, and being beaten severely by his headmaster at nine years old made it
worse for him. This experience led to many abusive headmasters in his later books. After
the beating, his mother decided to move him to a prestigious boarding school called
Repton. Dahl was able to survive the rough manner of the boarding school particularly
because he was talented at sports. Repton had many opportunities for Dahl. The one he
was most interested in was one that happened regularly. A representative from Cadbury
Chocolate Company would come in and bring a new sample of the latest flavor of
chocolate for the boys to taste and critique. This opportunity inspired the popular
children’s story Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Dahl’s life events are the pathway
for all of his books, and all of his books can be traced back to an event in his life
(Rockman).
Personal tragedy would always seem to find a way into Dahl’s life. After his only
daughter died of a sudden illness, his son was maimed horribly in a car crash and Dahl’s
wife had a massive stroke that weakened her to the extent where she was helpless for
several months. Dahl had to watch these tragedies firsthand, yet he used these losses and
just kept writing books and screenplays through these times (Encyclopedia of British
(LitFinder Contemporary Collection). While in the Air Force, he met and befriended the
writer of the James Bond series, Ian Fleming. One of Dahl’s most famous screenplays
was for one of Fleming’s books, You Only Live Twice. He was then inspired to write
screenplays for his own books, the first one being Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.
But before Dahl starting writing popular screenplays and books, he started small by
writing a column about his war escapades for the magazine Colliers (LitFinder
Contemporary Collection). His first book, written for Walt Disney, was largely
unsuccessful. The Gremlins (1943) was its name. Dahl then achieved bestseller status
with his adult book Someone Like You. He wrote one more adult book titled Kiss, Kiss,
and finally moved on to his first children’s book. James and the Giant Peach was
originally written for his own children, but when it got published it was a huge success
(Encyclopaedia Britannica). Dahl was then using his life experiences to make books and
Supplement praised Dahl as "a social satirist and a moralist at work behind the
entertaining fantast.” “A reviewer for the Times of London called one of his books "the
I consider Roald Dahl to be one of the most influential children’s writers of all
time; his skill with screenplays and books will be missed after his death in the year 1990.
Works Cited
Enclyopedia of British Writers. “Roald Dahl.” Bloom’s Literary Reference Online. Facts on File,
9028532?query=Roald%20Dahl&ct=#citehttp://school.eb.com/all/eb/article-9028532?
query=Roald%20Dahl&ct=#cite>.
LitFinder Contemporary Collection. “Roald Dahl.” LitFinder For Schools. N.p., 2007. Web. 16
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LTF0000016171BI&&docId=GALE|LTF0000016171BI&docType=GALE&role=>.
Rockman, Connie C, ed. Tenth Book of Junior Authors and Illustraions. N.p.: The H. W. Wilson
<http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com/hww/results/getResults.jhtml?
_DARGS=/hww/results/results_common.jhtml.33>.