The Beastly Arms

By Patrick Jennings
Published by Scholastic Press
Copyright © 2001

“The Beastly Arms” is an intriguing book about seeing more than what is obvious and learning to trust. Nickel is an observant boy who loves to practice photography. He and his friend Inez also love animals – Miriam, a Kangaroo rat, can usually be found hiding in Nickel’s shirt pocket.

Nickel and his mom have to move because their current landlord keeps raising their rent. His dad wants them to move to the suburbs near him, but they don’t want to leave the city. The only problem is that it is so hard to find an affordable apartment that isn’t in a horrible neighborhood. One day while Nickel and his mom were out apartment hunting they stumble across a creepy building called the beastly arms. This building piques Nickel’s curiosity and he just has to know more about it and it’s owner Mr. Beastly.

While not full of action or magic this book is certainly brim full of imagination. When you find out what Mr. Beastly’s secret is you will be amazed.

The Twits

By Roald Dahl
Illustrated by Quentin Blake
Copyright © 1980


What happens when 2 of the meanest old people come up against 4 young boys, 4 monkeys, 1 roly-poly bird from Africa, and hundreds of European birds? They get outwitted.  


Mr. and Mrs. Twit are old, mean, and ugly. Mr. Twit has a long, unkempt, food littered beard and Mrs. Twit has a screwed up face and a glass eye that always stares in the wrong direction.  These two used to be decent looking people but years of bad thinking has made them look as ugly as their thoughts. Mr. and Mrs. Twit love to torture each other with mean spirited practical jokes. They like to catch unsuspecting birds and make bird pie. And they like to train monkeys to perform upside down. All of this meanness is going to catch up with the Twits when the birds conspire with the monkeys to give the Twits what they deserve.


Giving mean and obnoxious people consequences of their actions is what Roald Dahl Does best. In “The Twits” Dahl gives us two people who are laughably mean. The practical jokes that they play on each other pretty old fashioned and low-tech by today’s standards, but still very funny. That said, however, the retaliation of the monkey’s and birds was in general predictable, so the first half of the book was more enjoyable than the last half.


After reading this and many other Roald Dahl books, I have to say that to me his writing style seems very giddy. It is not always pleasant to read because bits and pieces are always added, and sometimes you never do realize why they are there. I think this is what makes his stories enjoyable for children though, because when they read his books, they read as if a child was telling the story. That, I believe, is a hard thing to accomplish, and it is why he remains one of the most loved children’s authors of all time.

Danny the Champion of the World

By Roald Dahl

Illustrated by Quentin Blake

Published by Puffin

Copyright © 1975

Champion of the world? Well, maybe the champion of a small town and a patch of forest full of birds. But, it’s good clean fun nonetheless; at least if you are old enough to know better.

Danny lives with his dad (William) in a little caravan behind a filling (gas) station and garage.  It isn’t the most beautiful home in the world but it is warm and snug. William loves Danny very much. He has taken care of him by himself ever since his wife died. William protects Danny and teaches him everything he knows. One of the things he teaches Danny is about poaching pheasants, and this is going to make Danny the champion of the world.

While, in my opinion, some of the characters are a little flat or unnecessary (e.g. Danny’s school teachers) and the chapter that ties in the story of the BFG was a little pointless, I still thought this was a good example of Roald Dahl giving us a little champion with a big heart. (With that in mind click here for a blog post about Dahl’s stories and rural class structure in Post-WWII England. I thought it was very interesting.)

I have some hesitations in recommending this for very young children because the moral is a bit skewed. A father and son love each other immensely (good). The dad teaches his son a skill (good). They fight against the oppression of a self-important, upper class, jerk (good). They bond (good) by working together (good) to steal from the aforementioned upper class jerk (bad). My mother always taught me that two wrongs don’t make a right, and that it is never okay to steal. These are two things that I still believe in.

That being said the audience for which this is intended, kids age 7 and up, should already be grasping principles of right and wrong and will understand that it is a work of fiction. Besides that, there are so many pointless and horrible books out there that I don’t believe this one can do much damage. “Danny the Champion of the World” has a really likeable main character, some mild adventure, and a bad guy getting what’s coming to him. How could any child or adult not like a story like that?

The Three Questions

Written and Illustrated by Jon J. Muth
Published by Scholastic Press
Copyright © 2002

            When is the best time to do things?
            Who is the most important one?
            What is the right thing to do?

In this picture book young Nikolai wants to be a good person, but he feels that he needs the answers to the above questions in order to be good. His friends (a heron, a monkey, and a dog) try to help him but their answers don’t seem satisfactory, so he sets off to talk to Leo the turtle. Leo helps Nikolai to see that he had the answers to the questions all along when he compares it to Nikolai’s selfless actions.

“The Three Questions” is based on a Leo Tolstoy story of the same name. The watercolor illustrations are muted and subtle, yet beautiful. Unlike many picture books where the story plays second fiddle to the pictures, the illustrations in this book serve to accentuate the story. The use of personification in animal characters rather than using humans makes the story more appealing to children and hopefully it will help them understand the goodness that comes from giving of oneself.