As we near December, the kids and I are trying to hurry up our reading to see if we can finish a good dozen of Roald Dahl books this year. We’re on pace to make it, I think, though the next few books promise to be a bit longer.

As I’ve written elsewhere, I am brand new to Dahl’s books myself. Although I had owned a few them on my shelves growing up, I just had never been tempted to read them. After all, I’d seen some of the movies, so why read the books? Man was I missing out!

For our tenth Dahl book of the year, we went with this crazy little story about Mr. and Mrs. Twit. Our copy’s cover art by Quentin Blake was enough to draw us in, but this back-cover tagline made the story irresistible:

“To pay Mrs. Twit back for the worms in his spaghetti, Mr. Twit thought up a really clever, nasty trick.”

The Twits are a miserably ugly couple with ugly thoughts and ugly behaviors. Their escalating war of practical jokes reminded us much of Matilda, and certainly kept this one a page-turner throughout. The Twits ultimately take a dose of their own medicine (though it’s not enough to cure the Shrinks), and the story ends more happily than some of the other Dahl stories we’ve. Unless you’re a Twit, in which case the story’s ending is pretty crummy.

This book contained perhaps the most succinct bit of wisdom we’ve yet read in a Dahl book, and I’m glad for it. Page 7 alone is enough to prove that Dahl’s stories could teach “the moral of the story”, and his advice is perfectly captured in Quentin Blake’s illustrations, making it all the more impactful. Dahl writes:

“If a person has ugly thoughts, it begins to show on the face. And when that person has ugly thoughts every day, every week, every year, the face gets uglier and uglier until it gets so ugly you can hardly bear to look at it.” (7)

To prove this, Blake draws the downward spiral of Mrs. Twit’s appearance, decade after decade, from pretty teen to nasty old hag…and Dahl’s words come  to life! Dahl continues this insight with the following:

“A person with good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.” (7)

Again, Blake’s illustrations capture the image beautifully and drive the point home, making for an excellent topic of discussion from parent or teacher to child.

I was thoroughly happy with this story, and I’d place it up there among my top favorites. We’re looking forward to reading Danny the Champion of the World soon, though we’ve also got some Christmas-themed books to read too this holiday season. So many books, so little time!

©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)