Roald Dahl Day

Today September 13th is Roald Dahl Day. The Roald Dahl Foundation have been gearing up to also celebrate 50years of Charlie And The Choclate Factory this month which is probably without a doubt Dahl's most loved book. It has ignited the imagination of children and adults alike for five decades and I'm sure it will continue to do so for many years to come. Recently there has been some controversy about the new "Adult Cover" of this beloved classic and it seems that the majority of people much prefer the beautiful childrens version illustrated by Quentin Blake for obvious reasons.

This year The Roald Dahl foundation asked everyone who loves Charlie And The Choclate Factory to Have A Charlie Party. So myself and my 9 year old daughter got our paintbrushes out and this is what we came up with. Ellen baked choclate muffins and made some yummy marshmallow dipped choclate treats.

Ellen loves Roald Dahl. Having struggled with reading Ellen attends Learning Support at her school. This was very disheartening for all of us as reading is a big thing in our house both myself and my husband are bookish and our house is filled with books. We've always read to her from a very early age so we couldn't understand what it was we were doing wrong. The answer was that it wasn't anything we had done wrong or anything we failed to do. Some children just have difficulty and it takes longer for it to click. Last year halfway through the school year Ellen's wonderful learning support teacher gave her a Roald Dahl book to take home and as if by magic her attitude towards reading drastically changed. Before this she hated reading for homework because she struggled so much with it she seen it as a chore. The only reading she looked forward to was her bedtime stories. Roald Dahl books ignited the passion for reading in her we had for so long struggled to find ways to encourage. She is now obsessed with this amazing author and we are absolutely thrilled.

We would have read Charlie for this weeks blog post but we had read it very recently so we have read Matilda instead. We shared book time, I read it when she was at school and Ellen read it when she got home. We both love Matilda! It had been a very long time since I'd read it so I was thrilled when she asked me to buy it for her.





Matilda is the story of a very bright little girl born into a family who don't appreciate or even love her. Mr & Mrs Wormwood are not very good parents or to be honest very nice people. They think of Matilda as an inconvenience and do not see how very clever and wonderful she is. They are much more interested in themselves, slobbing out in front of the TV, Bingo and dodgy dealings. Matilda finds solace from her home life in books from a miraculously young age but her family especially her father don't treat her very well. She decides to punish them with hilarious consequences. Shortly after she discovers her Powers. Matilda can do things with her mind that others can't.  These powers come in very handy at school too. Matilda attends Crunchem Hall where herself and her classmates are terrorised by the nasty headmistress Miss Trunchbull.

Roald Dahl books usually follow the pattern of the bad guy getting what they deserve in a hilarious fashion. They are always witty and always magical to read. We look forward to celebrating Roald Dahl every year.

This is our Mini Charlie Party from earlier this evening with lots of Chocolate Goodness :)