Hi everyone, it's Lauren! If you didn't know already
last week was Roald Dahl's birthday it was Roald Dahl Day, but it wasn't just any
old Roald Dahl Day, he actually turned 100 years old. Now I will put my hand up and
say although I love Roald Dahl I haven't actually read all of his books, I wasn't
an avid reader of him and I wanted to do a video kind of celebrating him and
celebrating his stories but then also kind of acknowledging the fact that I've
not read that much of him and yet i still feel like he's mine I feel like
he's this British institution and I feel like I know his stories so well, so I guess
I just wanted to discuss that a little bit and I also have a giveaway to
celebrate his birthday so stay tuned to the end of the video for that
So obviously as someone who reads a lot now I did read a lot as a child and there
were some authors whose books I read absolutely all of them, so Jacqueline
Wilson was one of those authors, anything she'd written I read. Roald Dahl for some
reason wasn't one of those authors. I did have a cassette tape which had a few
stories on I guess like an audiobook I suppose, it must have been an abridged
version, but that definitely had Matilda on there, it had Fantastic Mr Fox and I
think it had The Magic Finger and possibly something else and I used to
listen to these cassette tapes on long car journeys, Fantastic Mr Fox actually I
remember being on holiday once and having it on in the background and I was
playing under the table and I was being all the animals going to get the
food from the farmers and digging underneath! But then because I had these
stories on cassette I don't think I actually had the individual books of
them, I don't think I ever read them. I definitely read some Roald Dahl stories
at school, I remember reading George's Marvelous Medicine probably as part of a
bigger book and I think I read The Twits although I did not like The Twits
it scared me. Anything a little bit weird for some reason scared me, I was a very
nervous child and i'll tell you what else scared me - The Witches! I have had
conversations with people, it's like there should be a Witch's survivor group, I
feel like everyone was terrified of that film. I didn't actually get past the
point where I think most children get scared I think all of the witches get
together for a conference and they do something they turn a child into a pig?
or I don't know, I still haven't read The Witches and I've still not watched the film
past that point because just the idea of them to me was
terrifying whenever they come on the screen I was just like 'no! tturning this
film off!' and yet without having read the book and without having watched the
film all the way through, my imagination as a child was still piqued, I was still
really scared by it and I feel like I've experienced The Witches through that and
I think that's just the magic of the kind of tales that Roald Dahl was telling
I feel like his characters and stories have just almost become part of our
shared narrative through these films and through these adaptations and we just feel
like we know them so well, it's so familiar. One book that I can definitely
say that i have read is James and the Giant Peach because this was quite an
interesting experience for me because I remember when the film came out the
absolutely beautiful animated film and I remember my mum buying me the book
or giving me the book or I had it from somewhere and her telling me that I
should read it before the film comes out and that you should always read the book
first and that was sort of a new experience for me and I read through it
absolutely loved it and then watching the movie
it made me kind of realize that the movie and the book aren't always the same
thing and I think that's the first time I realized that the movie isn't just a
really literal translation of a book onto the screen is actually someone's
interpretation and I remember watching it and thinking 'oh, that doesn't happen in the
book' I had this kind of feeling of knowing what really happened in the
story I guess and that was kind of a new thing for me. But I think my favorite
Roald Dahll just just has to be Matilda I think a lot of us here on booktube
would probably feel the same way of any kind of story about reading and the love
of reading and learning especially because she was a little girl and that
just really spoke to me and that definitely wasn't just from the cassette
tape that I was listening to, I also got that from the Danny DeVito film which I
think although it differs quite a lot from the British story and I
remember my parents telling me that it was American and that was different
despite all of the changes I think at heart it really captures the magic of Matilda
and I think it's just such a beautiful film. What's hilarious is I still don't think
I've read Matilda and I only realized this recently when I was thinking 'oh yeah
I love Matilda' but have I sat down and read it? Maybe I did?
I don't know and so I have this really beautiful hardback version from
Penguin Young Readers this is the US copy, I got it on Book Depository and I
just love it because I just love the little picture of Matilda in the
middle there that reminds me of the musical poster. If this is still
available on Book Depository i will leave a link in the description box
below so that you can purchase it if you wish to, but I'm actually really looking
forward to properly reading Matilda because I just feel like I know it so
well and there's a kind of a joy I think of reading some books back when you're
older because I've already had a flick through this and there's definitely some
things in here which I would not have picked up on at all I mean Roald Dahl's
writing isn't childish it's for children but it's very clever doesn't talk down
to them so I'm really looking forward to reading this and when it comes to
Matilda not only are we celebrating a hundred years of Roald Dahl's birth but
it's actually the 20th anniversary of that film which I didn't which means
that I was 7 years old when it came out but to celebrate I have partnered with
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment to do a giveaway of Matilda DVDs. I have three
copies of this special edition Matilda DVD to give away and if you would
like to enter all you have to do is comment below telling me which is your
favorite Roald Dahl book. This is open internationally but up to a point
because the DVDs are region 2 so make sure that you can play them in your
region. I'm actually really sad I don't have my own copy to watch like I'm kind of
annoyed I have to give this away because I love Matilda so much, it's
like one of those films that I'm looking forward to sitting down and
watching with my own children just because i think it's such a classic
good luck if you are going to enter the giveaway
I would love to hear from you anyway and what your relationship with Roald Dahl's
work is like, did you read all of them like you're supposed to
or like me do you just feel like you know them have you consumed them through
other media? So as always I look forward to hearing your thoughts and i will see
in my next video, bye!
stratford-upon-avon which is a small town in the middle of England