Name: Boy
ISBN: 9780141365534

Roald Dahl

Quentin Blake

Tales of Childhood

avarni

But I doubt very much if you would entirely happy today if a doctor threw a towel in your face and jumped on you with a knife

My sisters shrieked with laughter when I appeared. He can't go out in those!' they cried. He'll be arrested by the police!"

"I hate figures. Figures are probably the dreariest things on this earth."

"Then why do you teach mathematics, sir," somebody asked him. 

"I don't," he said, smiling slyly. "I only pretend to teach it."

Nowadays you can go anywhere in the world in a few hours and nothing is fabulous any more. But it was a very different matter in 1934.

It happens to be a fact that nearly every writer of fiction in the world drinks more whisky than is good for him

"What is wrong with Egypt?" the Director asked me again. 

"It's.. it's... it's," I stammered, "it's too dusty, sir."

I was off to the land of plam-trees and coconuts and coral reefs and lions and elephants and deadly snakes, and a white hunter who had lived ten years in Mwanza had told me that if a black mamba bit you, you died within the hour writhing in agony and foarning at the mouth. I couldn't wait.

Itzel

I had bought this one during the Book Fair earlier this year and completely forgot I had it.

For some reason, I do love autobiographies, and this one was wonderful. Sweet and humorous, how an adult Dahl recounts snippets from his early days, keeping the spark from the childhood eyes he saw everything through then.

And it was illustrated!

I felt much less lonely after reading this book.

Dahl’s observations as a child about the cruelty and ridiculousness of some adults are concise and astute.

Also he’s funny and a joy to read.

ate ramen and read this as oftne as i saw it around the house

Emily

Sabanar

Nice little book - I love how he writes, makes me want to go back and read his others books.
Good read indeed.

Drew Dost

It was quite good writing, it definitely gave off the feeling that you were reading something personal as if Dahl was telling the stories to a friend. I found at times it felt a bit random and scattered, and certain stories didn’t really make sense to include, in my opinion.

i distinctly remember the first time i read this book. i won an essay competition at school when i was in the 5th grade and my absolutely wonderful school gave me the best prize ever : charlie and the chocolate factory and boy.

ever since then, i think i read and reread boy with such a passion to the point where now almost a decade later i still remember his stories in excruciating detail.

over the past few days, i was missing my comfort books aka my childhood and i couldn't get boy out of my mind so i reread it and it is every bit as good as i remembered.

Magda Silva

It was intresting but not intresting enough for me to continue on.

Donald

I remembered most of the stories in this once I started it. British civilization was really something.

Grace O'Callaghan

It was so interesting to learn more about the man behind some of children’s books.

We follow Dahl during his early life living in Wales, going to school and going to boarding school.

I learned that Dahl was quite the naughty child but didn’t deserve the punishments he got.

It was also nice to know the inspiration behind Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Overall a fun read, I’d definitely recommend listening to the BBC dramatised version, it was very atmospheric.

Jesica Frölich

First of all please do not tag this book as an autobiography! Even Dahl have stated that it wasn't the purpose of the book! 
Apart from that, I would highly recommend Boy to anyone who want to start reading Dahl's work. 
The book will give you a great insight about the author. Although it's full of anecdotes about Dahl's childhood, the way he portraits them are not necessarily 100% true. For him stories should be exciting but most important stories have to be funny. Therefore, he tend to exaggerate the qualities of his characters, because that creates an impact on the reader. 
Also, Boy will give you a glimpse on how Dahl came up with the idea for his other books, such as, Matilda or Charlie and the chocolate factory. 
This book is wonderfully written. It will make laugh a lot! As well as will make you sad in other chapters. But it truly depicts the character of the author and shows the reader once more the passion he always had for storytelling.

Jeni Enjaian

I laughed so many times as I read this book. Mr. Dahl has a ready wit that I remembered gradually from his other books as I delved further into this one.

While Mr. Dahl relates many stories from his childhood in this book I wouldn't call it an autobiography. Instead, I believe that Mr. Dahl...like my grandfather...elaborated and created full stories out of pictures from his memory.

Still, those elaborated pictures were quite enjoyable. I couldn't help but compare Hogwarts to Mr. Dahl's schools and see how the English school system is so much different than the US but also how "uniform" English schools are. I hope you know that I don't mean that all of the school are the same but that they have as a similar structure in contrast with a public high school in the US.

Throughout the book pictures are interspersed with handwritten captions...presumably handwritten by Dahl himself. Somehow this makes me like the book even more.

Lloyd Dalton

She had received two full half-hour lessons in driving from the man who delivered the car, and in that enlightened year of 1925 this was considered quite sufficient. Nobody had to take a driving-test. You were your own judge of competence, and as soon as you felt you were ready to go, off you jolly well went.

  
As we all climbed into the car, our excitement was so intense we could hardly bear it.

  
'How fast will it go?' we cried out. 'Will it do fifty miles an hour?'

  
'It'll do sixty!' the sister answered. Her tone was so confident and cocky it should have scared us to death, but it didn't.

  
'Oh, let's make it do sixty!' we shouted. 'Will you promise to take us up to sixty?'

  
'We shall probably go faster than that,' the sister answered, pulling on her driving-gloves and tying a scarf over her head in the approved driving-fashion of the period.

François Declercq

Rachel B

Roald Dahl's account of his childhood is now reissued in a beautiful hardcover format, with -- for the first time -- Quentin Blake's stunning illustrations. Roald Dahl writing about his own childhood is a treat for any Dahl fan -- young or old. These stories are warm, touching, funny and show the development of one of the UK's most treasured children's writers.

Helen Borham

Helen Bright

Roald Dahl's life was as bizarre, frightening, exciting and funny as the stories he wrote. Now you can read the whole of his extraordinary autobiography in one volume.

Boy Tales of Childhood

Reviews

Popular highlights