Roald Dahl's first published story was 'Shot Down Over Libya', which he was paid a substantial amount for by the Saturday Evening Post. It tells the story of his accident as a pilot officer in World War II. The accident left Dahl temporarily blinded, with a fractured skull.
Dahl's first children's book was The Gremlins (the book has no connection to the 1984 film, Gremlins). The books was published in 1942, and although Walt Disney commissioned the book to be made into a film, it never happened.
Dahl's attendance of boarding schools as a child became an inspiration for many of his children's books, which usually contain storylines about adults being cruel to children. Matilda, The Witches, James and the Giant Peach and George's Marvellous Medecine ar just a few of the books that involve children being bullied by adults. The stories also involve the children getting their revenge on the nasty adults: Matilda uses her telekinetic powers to defeat her nasty headmistress, the protagonist in The Witches manages to defeat the Grand High Witch who hates children, James gets rid of his nasty aunts by squashing them with the giant peach and George concocts his own medicine to get revenge on his nasty grandma.
Dahl's first children's book was The Gremlins (the book has no connection to the 1984 film, Gremlins). The books was published in 1942, and although Walt Disney commissioned the book to be made into a film, it never happened.
Dahl's attendance of boarding schools as a child became an inspiration for many of his children's books, which usually contain storylines about adults being cruel to children. Matilda, The Witches, James and the Giant Peach and George's Marvellous Medecine ar just a few of the books that involve children being bullied by adults. The stories also involve the children getting their revenge on the nasty adults: Matilda uses her telekinetic powers to defeat her nasty headmistress, the protagonist in The Witches manages to defeat the Grand High Witch who hates children, James gets rid of his nasty aunts by squashing them with the giant peach and George concocts his own medicine to get revenge on his nasty grandma.
