As we continue to breeze through some of Roald Dahl’s shorter books during our unofficial “Year of Dahl,” I continue to be amazed at the unexpected twists he wrangles into his stories and the turns he abruptly takes. This one really surprised me (almost as much as George’s Marvellous Medicine had)!
With a title like The Magic Finger, a whole world of plot possibilities exists. Had you assigned me 1,000 guesses beforehand, I’d not have anticipated even the subject of this book, let alone its outcome. Well done, Dahl! You’ve done it again!
Er, you did it again….nearly 60 years ago.
This story begins with an eight-year-old girl telling the reader about herself, her neighbors the Greggs, and what she calls her “Magic Finger.” This magic finger has a history of being able to turn people (like her teacher) into animals (like a cat) whenever she gets flustered and angry. When she notices the Greggs returning from a hunting trip in which they’ve killed some ducks, she loses it and places (what can only be described as) a curse on the whole family.
What ensues is a sadly humorous affair where the whole family turns into ducks and where ducks-turned-human take over their home. The family adapts all right to duck living (roosting and making a nest in a tree), but they desperately long to get back to their home—and to get the duck-humans out of it!
Quentin Blake’s illustrations add life, of course, to the story as a whole, but since I read it to the kids (who sat across the room from me and didn’t see the illustrations), they didn’t miss out. They were deeply interested in and satisfied with the words alone, so as awesome as Quentin Blake is, the illustrations were take-it-or-leave-it for this one.
Published in 1964, this seems to be a very early anti-gun, pro-animal story for kids—unexpected yet definitely familiar messages for kid-readers today. I’m a naturalist of sorts and haven’t hunted since I was 13 (not because I love animals so much, but because I hate getting lost in the woods!), so I can appreciate somewhat the sentiments.
At minimum, this story makes us stop and ask why we still go out there and kill some wild animals when we don’t necessarily need to…since the grocery store is closer and cheaper. Maybe it’s because wild animals taste better or are often healthier? Or maybe because it’s less cruel than mass-farming them with chemicals only so we can kill and eat them right out of the cage? I don’t know. Again, it wasn’t a discussion I was planning to have with my kids when we picked up The Magic Finger, but hey! At least Dahl still surprising us!
©2022 E.T.
Read More from Roald Dahl:
- Adult Short Stories:
Over to You (1946)
Someone Like You (1953)
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (1977) - Children Fiction:
James and the Giant Peach (1961)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964)
The Magic Finger (1964)
Fantastic Mr. Fox (1970)
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator (1972)
Danny the Champion of the World (1975)
The Enormous Crocodile (1978)
The Twits (1980)
George’s Marvelous Medicine (1981)
The BFG (1982)
Dirty Beasts (1983)
Boy: Tales of Childhood (1984)
The Giraffe, the Pelly, and Me (1985)
Going Solo (1986)
Matilda (1988)
Esio Trot (1990)
The Minpins (1991)
The Vicar of Nibbleswicke (1991)