Roald Dahl - which books suitable for 3 and 5 year olds?

[nomoreharibo]

im not sure which ones to start with, and which are more suitable for older children.? thanks

my 3 & 5s like Fantastic Mr Fox and a child's read your own version of C & The Chocolate Factory. Actually they don't like F Mr F, they ADORE it. DOWN WITH BOGGIS BUNCE AND BEAN

My ds1 is 5 and loves f mr fox. And even sat through a film of it the other day which is unheard of for my Duracell to sit still.

He's seen the films of c and the Choc f.

Thinking of getting George's marvellous medicine next.

But agree that fmf is the best as an introduction. Uncomplicated and short chapters to read.

My boys, 3 and 5, love The Twits.

DD loves the Enormous Crocodile and the Giraffe The Pelly and Me. The versions of those we have are more like picture books with big colourful pictures on every page. Or Revolting Rhymes is good.

The Magic Finger is quite short, so good for shorter attention spans. James and the Giant Peach is a bit longer, but also a good one, or Fantastic mr fox, the twits, or George's marvellous medicine.

Most of the other books might be a bit long, I would say, plus I think my DD would be too scared of some of them, like The Witches or the BFG for now.

The Giraffe The Pelly and Me went down well too.

I'm not keen on Roald Dahl for very young children. They have a strong message that it is ok for horrible things to happen to mean people. George's Marvellous Medicine is my particular bugbear. Once children are 5 or 6 and a bit more mature they have a fairly good idea of right and wrong, fair and unfair and a bit of understanding of how fiction works and it seems ok but at 3, it felt very wrong to be reading Roald Dahl to DC1. And DC2 at 3 just wasn't ready for chapter books anyway, so no problem there.

DD is 3.9 and loves the Enormous Crocodile. We recently read George's Marvellous Medicine too - although what happens to Grandma is fairly alarming. I read both as a child but was still shocked at the ending of each! I loved Roald Dahl as a child but think they are a bit frightening for small children. The Book People are selling most of his books in a set for £15; I've ordered it but think I will keep most of them back until DD is a bit older.

Mine are 5 and 3 and they both love The Enormous Crocodile and The Giraffe the Pelly and Me. We have the big books with the illustrations in too. DS, nearly 6 also really liked Esio Trot and Fantastic Mr Fox.

I thikn the Ernormous Crocodile is quite scary for preschoolers!

Depends on the preschooler! My DD (3) loves it, whereas although DS loves it at 5, I remember wondering how he'd do with it when he was 4 as he is more of a sensitive type! Did fine at 4, but I wouldn't have done it earlier for him.

And are his books all at the same kind of reading level for a child to read to himself - my son is 6? (quite a good reader)

My 6 yo DD1 has read The Giraffe, The Pelly and Me quite happily (after we'd done it as a family bedtime book with her younger sister who is rising 4) and has read ahead in Charlie & TCF as she couldn't bear to wait for us to do our nightly chapter. She tells me she is reading The Twits with her guided reading group at school and she has just borrowed Esio Trot from the library so I'd say that your DS should be OK with all of those.

A six year old should be able to read all Dahl's books. DS1's favourite was Danny the Champion of the world. Just threw all our RD books out as DCs teenagers now.

I used to know the Enormous Crocodile off by heart

Giraffe Pelly and me was loved by my 3 year old - his big brother (aged 6 ) liked it.

The twits they both loved.

Matilda DS1 loved, DS2 not so much. Same with fantastic mr fox.

My dds 3&6 love Matilda and the witches. I thought the witches might be too scary for them but they really enjoyed it. C&TCF next!

I've read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to my 4 year old - the 2 year old dipped in and out of it. Also Matilda, the Twits and James and the Giant Peach. All have gone down really well, we have watched the films of some of them after and it is interesting to see how much she comments on the differences between the books and films. We are currently reading The Giraffe, Pelly and Me and all three of us are enjoying it, I don't remember it from my childhood, but would definately recommend it.

My 5 yo is terrified of Ronald Dahl stories.

She HATED Fantastic Mr Fox as the 'baddies' are way too scary. And was crying at the beginning of James and the Giant Peach because the Aunts are so mean to poor James. She's a soft lump though

Bad things don't just happen to mean people in the stories, bad things happen to little children. And adults are really cruel to them, which really upsets DD. I know there's always a happy ending but we never get that far as DD has been reduced to heaving sobs and is sat rocking in bed sobbing "poor JJJJJames, why are they so mean Mummy WHHHHHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYYYYYY?"

So yeah - I do think they're genuinely upsetting for little children

I think I will leave them for a few years before I re-introduce DD to them anyway

the magic finger gave ME nightmares, i swear. please do not read it to an impressionable child. it's no coincidence that Dahl wrote and presented so many Tales Of The Unexpected.

I am a huge Roald Dahl fan but have not even started with mine (5.5 and 3). The Twits is not funny unless you can process it, it's just mean and horrible. The Witches is bloody terrifying. Can't wait to get to Matilda though.

I totally agree about not giving James or The Magic Finger to impressionable ones. Mine reacted badly to those as well which is why I only posted about the ones with which we had success.

Maybe I should have included a more explicit health warning.

Duchess, LeFreak - DS1 is a sensitive little soul too but bizarrely loved Roald Dahl. he also loved Pippi Longstocking (which is a great book) and the worst witch stories. Am holding off on reading Gobbolino the Witches Cat to him as I remember finding it v sad when I was at school - and i found Heidi really upsetting too.