A Roald Dahl Selection

A Roald Dahl Selection (2000) – Roald Dahl (Longman) | ISBN: 9780582434493 | Condition: Good

Ah, Roald Dahl — the man who convinced generations of children that grown-ups are either deliciously wicked, hopelessly dim, or deserving of some sort of comeuppance involving a giant peach. A Roald Dahl Selection (2000, Longman) is exactly what it says on the tin: a curated sampler of Dahl’s peculiar genius, designed for classrooms, reluctant readers, and anyone who thought chocolate factories should involve more workplace health and safety violations.

This isn’t the glossy Collector’s Deluxe Edition with Gold-Embossed Spine you’ll find in fancy bookshops. No, this is the sturdy school-friendly edition: built to survive backpacks, orange squash spills, and possibly a biro attack from a bored Year 8. Our copy is in Good condition, which means it has lived, but it hasn’t yet been rolled up into a makeshift truncheon. The cover might show a touch of shelf rash, the pages may be fractionally more “cream” than “white,” but the Dahlian mischief is all intact and waiting to pounce.

Inside, you’ll get a greatest-hits collection of sly humour, grotesque villains, and children who are much smarter than the adults supposedly in charge. Perfect for the young, the young-at-heart, or the middle-aged who secretly still identify with the kid who glued his teacher’s chair.

Ideal for:

• Teachers nostalgic for the days when “classroom texts” came in faded paperbacks, not on tablets.

• Parents who want their children to learn that books are more fun when at least one adult gets eaten.

• Irony-lovers who enjoy the idea of reading A Roald Dahl Selection while sipping fair-trade coffee and muttering about “problematic authors.”

From the ever-unapologetic shelves of Crappy Old Books, where slightly scuffed school texts graduate into ironic treasures. Because if Dahl taught us anything, it’s that a little wickedness is always worth keeping in print.

Keep browsing: See more Kids books Other books by Roald Dahl