Boy: Tales of Childhood - Roald Dahl

1. Bibliography:

Dahl, Roald. BOY: TALES OF CHILDHOOD. (New York: Puffin Books, 1984) 176 pp.

2. Genre and Awards:

Non-Fiction, Children’s Books, Autobiography

3. Synopsis:

We’re all at least a little bit familiar with Roald Dahl’s children’s fiction (think Matilda or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory). This book is a personal account of his growing up years from Kindergarten until his completion of high school. He is in and out of a number of prestigious English and Scottish boarding schools and chronicles the hilarity of many of the Headmasters, the terror of his schoolmates, and the shenanigans he and his friends were constantly pulling.

4. Characters:

Aside from mentioning family members (his mother, especially, numerous times), there are no real characters in this book besides young Dahl, himself. He has friends at each school, many of whose names he cannot even recall, but because he is at so many different schools, none of the friends get much page-play. Although, I have to say, his stories about “the ancient sister” are hilarious.

5. Plot:

While this autobiography is organized chronologically, Dahl makes it clear in the beginning that he is not going to simply sit down and tell you about his life from start to finish. He has designated the specific beginning and end points to be the start and the finish of his school years and instead of connecting the chapters, he lets each be a story, highlight, or memorable event that stands on its own. Essentially, it is a real-life coming of age story, except that the process of changing from irresponsible, mischievous boy to aware young adult is sort of ignored. It just happens. Before you realize it, he’s finishing the book with a quick rundown of the rest of his life in the last chapter.

6. Needs of Adolescents:

One thing I noticed about this book that I did really like is that Dahl makes his youth accessible to young people. His story begins in 1922, which is a very, very long time ago for most students now. He is very good about explaining phenomena such as the lack of access to air travel and the rarity of spotting an automobile. I think the only real need of adolescents that this book addresses, though, is the need for entertainment, and that one is a stretch.

7. Possible Classroom Uses:

I worry about the highly negative light in which all school authority figures are portrayed in this book. We can all see in Matilda the trend, but here it is supposed to be real life and while I don’t doubt that Dahl and his young classmates endured physical punishment, irrational instructors, and dictatorial Headmasters at their schools, it is a dangerous place to bring modern young people. There is such a fine line for a sixth grader between being able to laugh at something that happened a long time ago in a faraway place and being too quick to relate one’s own experience to Dahl’s.

On a more practical note, it is a specific type of non-fiction that reads much like fiction, so I might be able to use it to demonstrate the wide variety of ways one can write true stories. For example, this is significantly different than an informational text or a biography written about a famous scientist. I might recommend it either to someone who had read works of Dahl’s fiction or to a reluctant reader as a means to give them a story that is easily accessible and entertaining or to introduce them to the world of non-fiction in a very non-threatening way.

8. Appropriate Age Range:

I would not give this to someone older than seventh grade, and even then only if they were a reluctant reader. There is just no real substance to the book. It is great for entertainment value, but that only goes so far when there are authority issues to deal with in the book, too. I think students in upper elementary could read it and relate, too, though.

9. Personal Reactions:

The one part of this book that I enjoyed was seeing the places where Dahl got his inspiration for many of the novels I read as a kid. There was a local candy store in his neighborhood growing up and later while he was away at boarding school Nestle used his class as a testing ground for new chocolate varieties. The Headmasters and teachers at his boarding schools were of the Mrs. Trunchbull variety, beyond a doubt, and one of his friends’ parents reminded me of Matilda’s. Other than that, about two thirds of the way through the really short book, all of his stories started to sound as though they were drawn from one of these hats: boys get into prankster trouble, someone is irrationally punished by a teacher, an administrator beats a student, or idyllic family vacation story. I am interested to read the next autobiography Dahl wrote about his time in the Royal Air Force during World War II and his travels to Africa and other exotic places. Maybe there will be more meat to that story!