Danny The Champion of the World
I’ve been reading to one or another of my children every night since they were each a few weeks old. It’s the thing I look forward to most everyday. Lately, it’s been my great pleasure to read novels and chapter books with my five-year-old, including my absolute favorite Danny The Champion of the World by Roald Dahl.
Not all novels and chapter books for children are created equally. Some seem written in such a way as to make them nearly impossible to read aloud, often because of an extremely terse style. (Example: Judy crossed the room. She picked up the book. Put it in her backpack. “What’s that?” Scott asked. “A book,” said Judy.) Danny is, by comparison, a dream to read aloud. The language is rich and flows like a river full of rainbow trout. The characters are complex, funny, and interesting. And the story, a seemingly simple tale of a boy and his father, is rewarding in the extreme for fathers to read to their sons and daughters.
I can’t recommend this book highly enough. It is, without the slightest doubt, the most marvelous and exciting story any father, or parent, could ever read to one’s child.
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