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Boy: Tales of Childhood (1984)

by Roald Dahl

Other authors: See the other authors section.

Series: Roald Dahl's Autobiographies (1)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
7,6931331,157 (3.99)126
Presents humorous anecdotes from the author's childhood which includes summer vacations in Norway and an English boarding school.
  1. 40
    Going Solo by Roald Dahl (1-L1F3-L3FT, DAHU, rahooligan)
    DAHU: This is a great sequel of Boy and should be read by all who love roald Dahl's books
  2. 51
    James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl (jf13)
  3. 31
    Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl (acx10)
  4. 00
    What I Was by Meg Rosoff (nosoyretro)
  5. 01
    Airman by Eoin Colfer (kittu26)
    kittu26: It is a book about a flying man by eoin colfer
  6. 02
    The Vampire Prince by Darren Shan (Anonymous user)
  7. 16
    The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (yanpoo, Chris.Li)
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» See also 126 mentions

English (127)  Spanish (3)  Arabic (1)  Dutch (1)  Catalan (1)  All languages (133)
Showing 1-5 of 127 (next | show all)
If you're into biography and stuff then go for it but me personally this book just wasn't for me. ( )
  _Ry | Aug 17, 2023 |
The story with the sweet shop lady and the dead rat bought out the inner child in me and I’m not complaining. I would have loved this when I was younger! ( )
  ameliaavery | Dec 29, 2022 |
Fun stories from his growing up years. I should read more of his work. ( )
  kslade | Dec 8, 2022 |
A fascinating set of stories and reminiscences of the author's childhood, with a focus on the horrors of public school education and surgery without anaesthetic. ( )
  soylentgreen23 | Jul 31, 2022 |
This is a "partial" autobiography by Roald Dahl about Roald Dahl, which takes us into his childhood experiences growing up in England post-WWI and pre-WWII. He says in the beginning of the book that he would never write an autobiography about himself, but that he wanted to share stories about his childhood in a collection of events that happened to him that he had never forgotten. He says that none of these things is important but they made such a lasting impression on him that they never left him. These stories are much like the stories that he wrote for children when he grew up. Many were full of both humor and horror, and after reading these stories, you can see where his inspirations came from. His interactions with the adults in his life, and especially the headmasters in his schools, were clearly what colored the way the adults in his beloved stories treated children. While these memories are supremely real, they read so much like his fiction, that it's incredibly easy to devour this book. His antics and mischief are great fun to read about, and you can absolutely picture the sour faced adults that handed down punishment for them. It's a wonderful journey that he takes us on to show us that the path to writing wasn't linear. A great lesson for kids!
  anicol83 | Jul 26, 2022 |
Showing 1-5 of 127 (next | show all)
Jody Little (Children's Literature)
Dahl’s autobiography of his first 20 years of life begins with a brief description of his parents’ backgrounds, including his father’s death when Dahl was only three years old. Dahl then moves into short memories from his childhood and school days beginning with his year in kindergarten and then the move to Llandaff Cathedral School. While at Llandaff, Dahl writes fondly of the local sweet shop owned by a “small skinny old hag with a moustache on her upper lip and a mouth as sour as a green gooseberry.” He tells the story of finding a dead mouse at school and deciding with his friends to put the mouse in a candy jar at the sweet shop, a prank that eventually earns him four strokes of the headmaster’s cane. At age nine, Dahl moves to boarding school where he begins to write a weekly letter home to his mother, a habit he continues for 32 years. His mother kept all the letters from Roald, and he includes many snippets of them throughout the book. The final section includes memories of his teen years at Repton School and his first job outside of school with the Shell Company. Fans of Roald Dahl’s books will recognize details from his life, such as the sweet shop, Gobstoppers, the villainous adults, and the Cadbury Coffee Cream Bar, which later led to some of Dahl’s most memorable children’s books. 2009 (orig. 1984), Puffin Books/Penguin, $6.99. Ages 10 up.
added by kthomp25 | editChildren's Literature, Jody Little
 
Bill Boyle (Books for Keeps No. 38, May 1986)
Subtitled 'Tales of childhood', this is a fascinating insight into the young life of Roald Dahl. All are true, and act as indicators of the sources of much of the material in Dahl's books. 'An English school in those days was purely a moneymaking business owned and operated by the Headmaster,' So, naturally, money could be made by encouraging parents to send parcels of food to their offspring, thereby reducing the amount he would have to spend on school meals. Part and parcel of the 'make your own Headmaster kit' was 'the kind of flashing grin a shark might give to a small fish just before he gobbles it up.' Very interesting and worthwhile reading as background to the developing Roald Dahl, from dot to twenty, an adolescent world of boarding school and boaters fagging and tuck boxes holding frogs and slugs. Category: Middle/Secondary. . ...., Puffin, D1.95. Ages 10 to 14.
added by kthomp25 | editBooks for Keeps, Bill Boyle
 

» Add other authors (9 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Roald Dahlprimary authorall editionscalculated
Baker, SophiePhotographersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Blake, QuentinIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Hérisson, JanineTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Jacobi, DerekNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Ottosson, MetaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Quidam, AdamTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Sachs, AndrewNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Stevens, DanNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Vriesendorp, HuberteTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Epigraph
Dedication
For Alfhild, Else, Asta, Ellen and Louis
First words
An autobiography is a book a person writes about his own life and is usually full of all sorts of boring details.
Quotations
None of these things is important, but each of them made such a tremendous impression on me that I have never been able to get them out of my mind.  Each of them, even after a lapse of fifty and sometimes sixty years, has remained seared on my memory.

I didn’t have to search for any of them.  All I had to do was skim them off the top of my consciousness and write them down.

Some are funny.  Some are painful.  Some are unpleasant. I suppose that is why I have always remembered them so vividly.  All are true.
Throughout my young days at school and just afterwards a number of things happened to me that I have never forgotten.
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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Presents humorous anecdotes from the author's childhood which includes summer vacations in Norway and an English boarding school.

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Book description
In "Boy" Roald Dahl describes his childhood and school life, in the second section (also a separate book) "Going Solo" he talks about his adult life, working overseas and flying a fighter plane for the RAF (Royal Air Force) during World War II.
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Penguin Australia

3 editions of this book were published by Penguin Australia.

Editions: 0141322764, 0143566547, 0241955300

 

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