Dahl’s unruly and macabre imagination continues to exert a lasting influence over readers today, with annual sales of his work estimated at one million, and his books translated into 54 languages. When he died in 1990, he was unarguably the most famous British children’s author of his day. His stories have been adapted into blockbuster films, directed by Steven Spielberg, Wes Anderson and Tim Burton, and for the stage as plays and musicals — the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) production of Matilda the Musical winning a record seven awards at the 2012 Lawrence Olivier Awards. In surveys of children’s reading habits, Dahl continues to feature alongside J. K. Rowling and Jacqueline Wilson, remaining a staple of classrooms and children’s bookshelves in Britain and across the world. But what is it in these stories that so appeals to children and why is it that Dahl garners both hyperbolic praise and critique?
Stories written for children draw on a rich tapestry of storytelling traditions, including myths, folk tales, fairy tales and legends adapted to suit the perceived needs of child readers. The children’s literature critic Kimberley Reynolds points out that because children’s authors tend to be adults it is they and not children who determine the needs these stories address. Consequently, the child protagonists we see in children’s books are constructed according to the adult author’s understanding of what ‘real’ children are like. Thus, children’s literature has been dominated by a very narrow understanding of childhood that tends to be white and middle class. This is problematic if we believe that stories play a role in shaping young minds, making it crucial to keep examining the ways in which childhood is depicted in children’s literature.
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