Danny, the Champion of the World by Roald Dahl is one of the most underrated books I have read. In comparison to his other books such as Matilda and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I feel like this book doesn’t get as much praise as it deserves. Like his other famous books, Danny, the Champion of the World is very funny and imaginative. The story takes place around 1975 in a United Kingdom filling station (i.e., a gas station), on a country road out among empty fields and woody hills. There is a lot of traffic and the station sees a lot of business. Behind the station is a caravan in which Danny and his father live. You would think that their life was all hard work without any fun, but you would be surprised. Danny is a very clever, loyal and helpful boy. He helps his father, a mechanic, fix other people’s cars in the filling station. Danny’s father is described as “sparky” in the book, because he always comes up with amazingly interesting ideas. Like his grandfather, his father is a master poacher of pheasants and has lots of creative ways to catch them. He also has a deep, dark secret, but I’m not telling you it! Mr. Victor Hazell is an eccentric millionaire and is fairly well known. Every year, he holds a pheasant-shooting party, which allows people from miles around to travel to his estate to shoot pheasants. He is very conceited and loves his fame. His shooting party has drawn lots of wealthy people to shoot pheasants in trees and then keep the birds for themselves. Danny and his father are very poor and haven’t eaten pheasants in a long time, so they want to eat them now. Mr. Hazell is the archenemy of Danny’s father, so the father and son have to come up with a plan to stop Hazell’s big shooting party. What is Danny’s master plan for catching pheasants, and most importantly, will it work? And what makes him the Champion of the World? Find out in Danny, the Champion of the World, a fascinating novel recommended for anyone over the age of eight that will keep you turning the pages. A master storyteller, Dahl never disappoints his readers with his vivid and hilarious detailed descriptions of events. Moreover, his characters are fun, mischievous, and touching. I was especially touched by Danny’s close relationship with his father. The loving bond between them makes Danny, the Champion of the World a memorable book that tickles and warms your heart. Danny, the Champion of the World by Roald Dahl. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1975. Buy the book here and help support Stone Soup in the process!
book review
Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Reviewed by Nova, 11
Several people are kept in a cave. They have lived in the cave their entire lives, chained to the ground, watching blurry shadows dance on the stone wall in front of them. They think that this is all there is to the world. But one day, one of the captives breaks free of his bonds and leaves the cave. He is amazed by all he sees outside, but when he returns to tell the other prisoners of his findings, nobody believes him. Instead, they kill him. This story is known as the allegory of the cave. Plato, an ancient Greek philosopher, wrote it in reference to his teacher, Socrates, another Greek philosopher. Socrates was sentenced to death and made to drink poison for “corrupting the youth” with his new ideas. But what would have happened if Socrates was not killed but exiled? And what if he returned one day, years and years later, to teach others about the wonders he discovered while banished? And what if Socrates and the other Athenians were not humans but seagulls? Okay, the last question probably sounds extremely weird, but this is basically the plot of Jonathan Livingston Seagull, a novella written by Richard Bach and first published more than fifty years ago. At the start of the story, a seagull named Jonathan feels incomplete. Unlike the rest of the flock, he yearns for more than food. He wants to learn more about flight. He keeps experimenting, and one day learns how to fold his wings, using only his wingtips for maximum speed. After he bursts through the flock at terminal velocity, he is called forward and banished for disrupting his community. He lives a quiet, peaceful life on the Far Cliffs for many years, and then he goes to the next stage of his existence, in which he realizes his true purpose: to return to the flock and teach them the wonders of flight. I was apprehensive at first about this novella, because it starts off slowly and the action only gradually builds up. But once I warmed up to the story, I saw that it was written wonderfully, with many sensory details. I could feel Jonathan’s heartbreak, his fear, and also his euphoria whenever he discovered a new flying trick. Readers will also learn a lot about amazing aerial acrobatics and flight mechanics from the author, Richard Bach, a pilot who has written many fiction and nonfiction books about flying. Even though I am not a flight expert, I could still picture Jonathan’s aerial whirls and spins in my mind’s eye. I also enjoyed the black-and-white photographs of seagulls in flight, taken by Russell Munson, which illustrate my copy of the book. I would recommend Jonathan Livingston Seagull to eight-year-olds and up. Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach. Macmillan Publishers, 1970. Buy the book here and help support Stone Soup in the process!
Review Of “One for the Murphys” by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
One for the Murphys is a coming-of-age novel written by Lynda Mullaly Hunt, bestselling author of Fish In A Tree, a book which received a very favorable review on the Stone Soup blog. One for the Murphys centers around Carley Connors, who moves to Connecticut to live with her foster family after her mother ends up in the hospital. The foster family, which consists of Mr. Murphy, his wife Julie, and their children Michael Eric, Adam, and Daniel, live a very different life than Carley imagined or has ever lived before. As she tries to adjust to her new life, her thoughts on friendships, family, and mother-daughter relationships shift drastically. Carley, her friend Toni, her mom, and her foster family are all very well-developed characters who have complicated and nuanced relationships–one of the novel’s selling points. Carley loves Toni, but they are very different people who end up learning a lot about different family dynamics, books, and Broadway musicals. Carley also loves her mother, although their relationship is far from perfect. Carley often had to fend for herself when she lived with her mother, but she still has many fond memories of her. Meanwhile, she finds herself at once being very fond of the Murphys while feeling undeserving of the affection and attention they shower on her. The characters trying to figure out their places in society and in one another’s hearts are part of what makes the book such a captivating read. Unlike many coming-of-age stories, One for the Murphys does not have a picture-perfect happy ending. Carley has learned a lot, and is a more mature adult ready for the next chapter of her life, but as the reader closes the book, they know that Carley’s happiness was short lived, that she is heading towards a challenge which will leave her longing for the comfort she experienced and wondering what will happen to her when she grows up. The novel shows us that Carley finally has a passion, but that it is not one she is likely to achieve. She knows what it means to be a family, but only just in time to realize she has to leave one forever. She makes friends and establishes her roots only for them to be torn up again. But through all this is a little kernel of hope: that Carley will learn to make do with what she has, get her dream job, see the family she had to leave behind, and move to the place where her life first changed for the better. One for the Murphys is a wonderfully heartwarming story about friends, family, and what being a teenager is all about. The book made me laugh, cry, and root for Carley; with any luck, it will sit on your bookshelf, like it did on mine, getting reread and passed on to those I love the most. One for the Murphys by Lynda Mullaly Hunt. Nancy Paulsen Books, 2013. Buy the book here and help support Stone Soup in the process!
