Blue
11/09/23
Roald Dahl Story Day
This Wednesday it is Roald Dahl Story Day. It is on the 13th September every year, which was his birthday. Roald Dahl had an amazing imagination and created fascinating characters and magical worlds for children to discover. On Roald Dahl Story Day that is exactly what we are celebrating and it is the reason why the stories he wrote are still being read by so many children, years after they were first published.
It is also a day where the Roald Dahl Marvellous Children’s Charity raises money for seriously ill children, with the help of schools taking part in Roald Dahl themed days.
Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl was born in Wales in 1916. Both his parents were Norwegian and he was named after a famous Norwegian explorer.
Roald Dahl was an amazing author, but it wasn’t his only career. During his life he was also a screenwriter and inventor as well as being a fighter pilot and intelligence officer during the 2nd World War.
Roald Dahl wrote most of his books using a pencil on yellow paper while he was sat in his garden shed! He took inspiration from his life for many of his stories. When at school Cadburys sent samples of a new chocolate bar for the children to try, what story do you think this inspired?
Lots of his stories have been turned into plays or films, including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, Matilda and Fantastic Mr Fox.
Roald Dahl was married twice and had 5 children. He sadly died in 1990 aged 74 years old.
My Top Three Roald Dahl Books...
George's Marvellous Medicine
George’s Marvellous Medicine was the first Roald Dahl story I remember reading. It is a very funny story of a little boy called George and his grumpy grandmother. George is fed up of his grandmother bossing him about and creates a new medicine to replace her usual one in the hope that it will make her nicer to be around! It has some unusual effects! As you can imagine, Doc loves this story…a lot!
James and the Giant Peach
James and the Giant Peach starts off as a really sad story but James manages to escape his horrible aunts to go on a magical adventure inside a giant peach with some amazing talking minibeasts! Although it starts off sad there is a really happy ending which is why I like it. Flash is also a big fan of this story!
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has to be my favourite story. It is a story about a little boy Charlie who is lucky enough to win a golden ticket into Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. Once inside he discovers a fantastical world made up of sweets and chocolate and it changes his and his family’s life forever.
Do you have a favourite Roald Dahl book? Are there any you have never read? Maybe you could choose one to read and discover a whole new world that you’ve never imagined before!
Ways to celebrate Roald Dahl Story Day
There are lots of ways Roald Dahl Story Day can be celebrated. One of the most obvious ways is to have a dress up day, what character from Roald Dahl’s imagination would you dress up as? But there are much simpler ways too. You could design and then create your own Wonka inspired chocolate bar or sweets. Or come up with your own special recipe for a magical medicine, what do you think you’d like it to do and who would you give it to?! You could even create your own board game based on one of the stories, such as Fantastic Mr Fox or James and the Giant Peach.
We had a go at drawing some Quentin Blake inspired Roald Dahl characters. Can you guess which ones we drew? Maybe you could have a go at drawing one yourself?
The Roald Dahl website has lots of other ideas. Plus if you really want to explore the world of Roald Dahl even more you could visit the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre in Buckinghamshire. I have never been, but sounds like it would be fun to go…maybe that could be one of my next adventures!
The Enormous Crocodile
The BFG
Fantastic Mr Fox
Matilda
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
All photos and illustrations in this blog post are Whizzbots and Shutterstock Images.
Other images on the site may be Public Domain or Creative Commons Images, which are credited appropriately.
