Surprises from Roald Dahl's Books

     I have so many books on my to-read list, and I'm slowly getting through them.  Right now I'm going through books I've had since I was a kid but never read, just so I can finally read them and decide if I want to keep them.  And among those kids books are a few of Roald Dahl's books.

     As a kid I liked The BFG, James and the Giant Peach, and The Witches, but I also had Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, and Danny, the Champion of the World which I'd never read before.  This past week I read those last three, and a few things surprised me.

     First of all, I must mention that Dahl also wrote short stories for adults, and they are mostly dark and macabre.  I read the synopses of most of them, and it was interesting to read the Charlie books for the first time while knowing that short-story background and to see some dark elements in there.  What surprised me about the Charlie books was the eccentric and also sinister character of Willy Wonka and the eerie connection that the Oompa-Loompas have with the naughty children being permanently physically altered.

     Another thing that surprised me was that Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator was overly-silly and pointless (and it showcased a little more of Willy Wonka's beneath-the-surface sinister character).  Really there was nothing good to get out of this one except that you really should learn basic math, and not be selfish.

     But there was one other surprise about the books, and it was a redeeming and inspiring thing that I wanted to share: it's a poem in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (actually one of the Oompa-Loompa songs) about one of the naughty little children named Mike Teavee.  The 1971 movie doesn't quote the book's song at all in that scene, and the 2005 movie does quote some of it but the scene has such distracting visuals that the lyrics go right over your head.  Here's what the entire song says (this is by far the longest of the songs that the Oompa-Loompas sing, and it'll take a minute or two to read, just bear with me) :

 "The most important thing we've learned,
So far as children are concerned, 
Is never, never, NEVER let
Them near your television set---
Or better still, just don't install
The idiotic thing at all.
In almost every house we've been,
We've watched them gaping at the screen.
They loll and slop and lounge about,
And stare until their eyes pop out.
(Last week in someone's place we saw
A dozen eyeballs on the floor.)
They sit and stare and stare and sit
Until they're hypnotized by it,
Until they're absolutely drunk
With all that shocking ghastly junk.
Oh yes, we know it keeps them still,
They don't climb out the window sill,
They never fight or kick or punch,
They leave you free to cook the lunch
And wash the dishes in the sink---
But did you ever stop to think,
To wonder just exactly what
This does to your beloved tot?
IT ROTS THE SENSES IN THE HEAD!
IT KILLS IMAGINATION DEAD!
IT CLOGS AND CLUTTERS UP THE MIND!
IT MAKES A CHILD SO DULL AND BLIND
HE CAN NO LONGER UNDERSTAND
A FANTASY, A FAIRYLAND!
HIS BRAIN BECOMES AS SOFT AS CHEESE!
HIS POWERS OF THINKING RUST AND FREEZE!
HE CANNOT THINK---HE ONLY SEES!
'All right!' you'll cry. 'All right!' you'll say,
'But if we take the set away,
What shall we do to entertain
Our darling children?  Please explain!'
We'll answer this by asking you,
'What used the darling ones to do?
'How used they keep themselves contented
Before this monster was invented?'
Have you forgotten?  Don't you know?
We'll say it very loud and slow:
THEY . . . USED . . . TO . . . READ! . . .  They'd READ and READ,
AND READ and READ, and then proceed
to READ some more.  Great Scott!  Gadzooks!
One half their lives was reading books!
The nursery shelves held books galore!
Books cluttered up the nursery floor!
And in the bedroom, by the bed,
More books were waiting to be read!
Such wondrous, fine, fantastic tales
Of dragons, gypsies, queens, and whales
And treasure isles, and distant shores
Where smugglers rowed with muffled oars,
And pirates wearing purple pants,
And sailing ships and elephants,
And cannibals crouching 'round the pot,
Stirring away at something hot.
(It smells so good, what can it be?
Good gracious, it's Penelope.)
The younger ones had Beatrix Potter
With Mr. Tod, the dirty rotter,
And Squirrel Nutkin, Pigling Bland,
And Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and---
Just How the Camel Got His Hump,
And How the Monkey Lost His Rump,
And Mr. Toad, and bless my soul,
There's Mr. Rat and Mr. Mole---
Oh, books, what books they used to know,
Those children living long ago!
So please, oh please, we beg, we pray,
Go throw your TV set away,
And in its place you can install
A lovely bookshelf on the wall.
Then fill the shelves with lots of books,
Ignoring all the dirty looks,
The screams and yells, the bites and kicks,
And children hitting you with sticks---
Fear not, because we promise you
That, in about a week or two
Of having nothing else to do,
They'll now begin to feel the need
Of having something good to read.
And once they start---oh boy, oh boy!
You watch the slowly growing joy
That fills their hearts.  They'll grow so keen
They'll wonder what they'd ever seen
In that ridiculous machine,
That nauseating, foul, unclean,
Repulsive television screen!
And later, each and every kid
Will love you more for what you did..."

     And the rest is about Mike Teavee's fate, so I won't bother finishing it.  This song out of all the songs in the book felt like the author talking directly to the reader.  And while you could be cynical and say he just wants more kids to stop watching TV so they'll buy his books, really this is very important advice and it hit home for me.

     Our kids nowadays have more access to screen time than ever before because of smartphones and iPads.  So many studies have been done showing the negative effects that too much screen time has on our brain, our body, and our social development.  Now there are some good movies and shows that are educational and some that the kids will enjoy, so not all of it is bad.  For instance, yesterday was a treat: Mc and I took the kids to see "Finding Dory" in the movie theater.  We got to watch it together and afterward we went out to dinner and we talked all about it, and I got to tell Baby Girl about the real-life octopus named Inky who escaped from an aquarium in New Zealand earlier this year.  :)  So that was good quality time together.  But largely it's the amount of screen time per day that really has gotten out of hand in our society (and even in my house), as well as using the TV/computer/iPad as babysitters.  I will admit that as I was reading that part of the book, my kids were in the other room playing a video game.  I didn't mind so much because they were interacting with each other while playing, it's helping Baby Girl with learning to be confident in her abilities and skills, the kids play imagination games afterward while using the games as inspiration for their playtime, and I was able to read without interruptions.  But I know that I let them play the video games for too long and I need to put better time limits on it, and this poem has truly inspired me to spend more time reading with them.

     The other book I just finished reading was Danny, the Champion of the World.  And until about halfway through the book I thought, "This book is as boring as the title always sounded to me."  ;)  But part of the reason for that is because I had just finished reading the Charlie books and so I was expecting the Danny book to be a little more action-oriented as well, but it isn't; it's about a father and his young son living in the English countryside.  So it's not action-packed, but the writing style and story are much better, in my opinion, than his Charlie books, and when I got to the end I realized it was a pretty good book, and I'll be keeping that one.

     What I got out of Danny, the Champion of the World and the Mike Teavee song was that we need to spend more time with our kids.  The poem was absolutely right: I can put on a movie or a simple video game for the kids and they'll be quiet and not make a mess around the house and I can have time to cook and get some cleaning done and read and maybe take a nap.  But really I can get those things done later.  Our kids need us.

     You know what made me sad a couple of years ago?  I saw a commercial on TV for a recordable children's book; you record yourself reading the book, and the child can read along with your voice.  It's marketed as a way to help your child read, but what I saw was a parent replacement: parents will buy this talking book for their child so they don't have to sit with their child and read to them.  This was at a time when I was pregnant with Little One and I spent much of my third-trimester-couch-sitting time reading books to Baby Girl, and she loved it!  And it made me sad to think of Baby Girl sitting in her room reading through a book that had my voice in it but when I wasn't there with her, and how empty that would feel for her and how dismissive that would make me feel.  I thought of that talking book a few weeks ago when I was reading a bedtime book to my kids.  They would put their finger on the words and I would read what they pointed to, and they thought it was hilarious to go over the same sentence over and over again and have me repeat the same sentence over and over again.  I thought to myself that they could do the same thing with that audio book--- have my voice repeat the sentence as often as they'd like--- but they wouldn't get this time together with me.  The social interaction is so important at any age, but especially at this young age.  They like when I read to them and I try my best to do different voices for different characters, and my kids want to be with me.

     I won't say how Danny, the Champion of the World went (I suggest you read it for yourself from cover to cover), but I will say that the end inspired me to be a more fun and interactive parent.  My kids need that, and they deserve a mother who tries to have fun with them.  I've said before that I've never been a "kid person" and so having fun with little kids at their level doesn't come very naturally to me (Mc is much better at it than I am), but for my kids I will try and I will change.  I want my kids to grow up remembering their mother wanting to spend time with them.

     So while Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator was a waste of time and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory really only had one thing that I liked, I'm grateful for books that inspire me to be a better person and a better parent.