The Twits (1980)

Humor fiction chapter book, grades 1-8
It is a relatively short book and easy to read. It is a good book for emerging readers who want to have fun and read a chapter book. The book is about and old married couple that are nasty people who don’t get along and play tricks on each other. They have monkeys that they train who end up playing a trick on them. The story isn’t that deep and doesn’t have a strong meaningful theme. Overall it is just a fun story for kids to read with animals and pranks. ( )

I enjoy Roahld Dhal's writing, the mischief, inventiveness and creative language. However, I would not have let my kids read this book when they were little. This book is about mean people, and revenge. Kids pick up on meanness and imitate it, even if it is used clearly in the story as it is an example of wrong and dreadful. There are studies that show kids watching stories where mean people get their due would practice the meanness on each other after, even if they have the best family life. Kids need to learn from good examples.

The problem in this story is the complete lack of compassion, the showing of doing the right thing. The meanness is answered by meanness, and there is no learning. What kind of lesson is that, destroy you those who are mean to you, and say "yay" if you find two people dead? Kids might find the story funny, but it would take quite a bit of parental guidance to explain that answering meanness with meanness is a way of perpetuating it, not solving it. ( )

What a fabulously grizzly children's book. The most unlikable characters, Mr & Mrs Twit, get their comeuppance. The descriptions alone of these two are enough to make you feel sick. But that enables you to tolerate the vicious pranks they play on each other.

Nice short chapters with lots of illustrations. Thoroughly enjoyable read. ( )

This book was fun. It was full of gross-out humor and amusing moments. Like the other Dahl books I have read, this one was something that came across as good to read aloud. I could imagine the different voices that would be done, the good rhythm it could be read at.

The pictures were great - Quentin Blake is a real talent. I especially liked the Roly Poly Bird and the Muggle-Wumps. The real treat of the book was a brief series of questions for Dahl at the end wherein he shared with the reader his writing tips. ( )

Elementary