Book Review: “Danny the Champion of the World”

“Danny the Champion of the World” by Roald Dahl

Genre: Children’s Fiction

Source: Gift

Summary from Goodreads:

Danny’s dad had a secret, but now the secret’s out and it’s going to lead Danny on the adventure of a lifetime.


This was a fairly interesting Dahl book. We have an adult on the kid’s side for once! Danny’s father is very loving and supportive. That’s a 180 from many of the adults/parents in Dahl books. We still get our daily dose of bad guy with Mr. Hazell.

The whole Mr. Hazell situation is really odd. They do a good job explaining why he’s mean and why they don’t like him. I don’t like him. I just find it really problematic the way they deal with the situation. I really, really don’t like the idea of sneaking on to a man’s private property to steal animals he bought himself. That seems to cross a line for me. Yes the book tries to make the situation okay but I still don’t like it.

Aside from that issue the story was enjoyable enough. I loved seeing Danny and his dad’s relationship. It was very sweet and natural. Dahl’s storytelling abilities shine through in this book. There was something a bit comforting in the way he told the story. It was almost like a grandfather telling a story to a grandchild. [To be honest I have a sneaking suspicion that Dahl was drawing on some real life experiences for the story.]

The bottom line? A decent book from Dahl!

This book was read as part of my Roald Dahl challenge.

Feel free to join in!

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