Danny the Champion of the World

This was a reread for me, and boy it's so weird to go back to a book like 40 years after you first read it. Much like seeing the front lawn of the house you lived in when you were 7-- and haven't seen since-- you're immediately struck with how much bigger it seemed then and how small it looks now. Such a cozy little book, much like the caravan Danny lives in and the world he inhabits. Everything is simple and straightforward. The ethics in the book are shady. The rich person is conveniently a nasty jerk which makes the police-supported criminal activity okay. Lol. And, of course, being a Dahl book there are only like three women in the book. One is dead, one is basically a prop to smuggle birds (and has to stay inside with the baby show more during the climactic part of the book), and the other is a teacher who is only referred to. I'm not complaining, really, it's just funny the things you notice as an adult. show less

One of the best things about the four-year space between my children is that I can enjoy a delightful story with both of them knowing that the younger one is going to forget it within a year or so, and I'll have a chance to enjoy it with him again before too long.

This is just the kind of delightful book I'm looking forward to revisiting.

I love how some of Dahl's other stories showed up in this book. My daughter is reading The BFG with her dad, and we were tickled that this is one of the stories Danny's dad tells him.

I also loved that this gave my daughter a different view of poachers. She's an eight-year-old animal-lover and aspiring animal rights activist, and I appreciate that this book gives another perspective on why someone might show more hunt an animal illegally besides just financial gain. Dahl doesn't say poaching is good, he just presents a situation in which it's not clearly bad. I like this moral ambiguity. Poaching in this book is stealing, it's dangerous, and it's not even necessary for the characters in the story to do, but it's also a challenge (even more than legal hunting as it's practiced in the book) and something that brings people together and creates community. Of course, it's also a way to get the goat of a mean rich guy, and that's always fun, I suppose.

Danny's father is perhaps a teensy bit too perfect for my taste, but at least he flirts with doing the wrong thing (like getting into a temper and almost beating up a man). But then, this just highlights the moral ambiguity in the book. Here I'm applying the labels "right" and "wrong" to the behavior of a man who has a yen for trespassing and stealing pheasants, a man who could be called a criminal. It's not even clear to me where I draw the line between right and wrong, and it's not totally clear to the characters, either.

This along with Dahl's characteristic way of telling someone's emotions by describing their actions is why I love this book. Dahl writes a fairly simple scene, like a walk to school, and injects so much emotion and meaning into it, it becomes something so much bigger, but not in a heavy-handed way.

Like I said: delightful! show less

The ethics of poaching is one of the main themes of the book, so just read it carefully yourself before judging.

It's true that Danny's father is not a traditional father. But he loves his son very much, and is raising him to be happy, healthy, successful, and a good citizen (likely an engineer or inventor). That's a good thing.

And thank goodness I read this with the illustrations by [a:Jill Bennett|182265|Jill Bennett|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/f_50x66-6a03a5c12233c941481992b82eea8d23.png] instead of Blake's scribbles. There is humor and adventure here, but there's an undercurrent of wisdom and a serious fable, and so silly drawings are not apt. Bennett's careful pen & ink portraits are sweet and powerful.

Btw, Dahl was show more already developing The BFG when he wrote this, way back in 1975. The scene revealing that is worth reading the book for, imo. show less

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2137993.html

This was a Dahl that I think I missed out on when I was younger; a very short story of a boy and his father, published in 1975 but surely set some decades earlier, in which the two launch a symbolic assault on the local capitalist's citadel by drugging and stealing all his pheasants. It turns out that the entire of the local community - doctor, vicar, policeman, midwife - are all in on the poaching scam, so Danny appears to be involved with a community uprising against the local autocrat.

But in fact this political interpretation may not be right: Mr Hazell's big crime is not being rich per se, but trying to impress people with his wealth; the worst things said of him involve him being rude to show more the villagers and trying to buy respect from other rich people. Hazell's flaws are his ego and lack of sincerity; Danny's father is completely genuine. So what at first seems an adventure story of a boy and a slightly older boy (his father) having a romp in the woods, and at second glance might be a political parable, is actually a moral tale of being true to yourself. show less

Eight year-old Danny and his widower father have lived in a caravan behind their auto repair and filling station for Danny's whole life. His father is kind and attentive, always happy to teach Danny a new skill, and Danny loves being with his dad. But their village has a wealthy man who demeans Danny and his father, so Dad needs revenge. He and Danny make a plan to ruin the annual pheasant shoot, taking the rich man's birds for themselves and humiliating him in the process.
I expected a whimsical Dahl story, but this isn't like other Dahls. There's a villain who needs to be taught a lesson, but otherwise, this is the most realistic story I've read from Dahl. Danny and his father have a good relationship, though Dad doesn't have the best show more judgement, such as holding five year-old Danny out of school until he's seven. But the main plot point of this book, which is longer than the average Dahl, is that of poaching pheasants. Danny's dad adores poaching and once the topic is introduced, he explains how it's done and how he does it, and then Danny gets involved, SPOILER* by suggesting that they drug the flock of pheasants. His dad thinks it's a great idea. I'll have to put this plot down to a different time and place, because the idea of getting even with a human by wiping out a flock of a hundred birds is bizarre. I would have given this a lower rating if not for the good relationship of Danny and his dad. Didn't hate it, but certainly not my favorite. show less

Another wonderful Roald Dahl book, we listened to about half of this on Audible and I read about half of it aloud. I had never read it before and it was a wonderful story about a boy and his father--up against a villainous neighbor and aided by a variety of characters from the local village. My six-year old son pointed out that it is the mirror image of Matilda--it's about a boy not a girl, the headmaster is good not bad, the teacher is bad not good and the father is good not bad. It is not as inventive as some other Roald Dahl (BFG, Charlie), the plot is not as interesting as some others (Matilda), and some of it seems extraneous (the scenes at school), but overall it is still amusing, sweet and ultimately morally righteous.

Danny has a life any boy would love--his home is a gypsy caravan, he's the youngest master car mechanic around, and his best friend is his dad, who never runs out of wonderful stories to tell. But one night Danny discovers a shocking secret that his father has kept hidden for years. Soon Danny finds himself the mastermind behind the most incredible plot ever attempted against nasty Victor Hazell, a wealthy landowner with a bad attitude. Can they pull it off? If so, Danny will truly be the champion of the world.