Events will take place across libraries and schools – and if you really want to make your celebration of his legacy count, why not fundraise for Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity, which supports seriously ill children?
To celebrate the day with a full immersion into a delectably Dahlian world, these are the books, films and costume ideas we will be revelling in with revolting glee.
solarisgirl, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Watch Matilda
Tim Minchin’s Matilda was a runaway stage hit before, earlier this year, it become a major cinematic addition to the Dahl canon. Simply, if you love Dahl, this is unmissable. Take the original story with its many imaginatively vile examples of adult humanity (Miss Trunchbull is a baddie for the ages), add a loveable and plucky child genius at the centre of its story, then finish off the whole affair with all-new razor-sharp lyrics, punchy sing-along numbers and the occasional chokingly moving and luscious ballad, and you have a version that shoots straight to the top of our favourite adaptations of all time. Watch it.
Visit Great Missenden
There is no better place to be on Roald Dahl Story Day than at the main man’s house, where he lived and created stories for 36 years. You can take a look inside his writing shed where all the magic happened. You can hunt around the Wondrous Woods for Quentin Blake illustrations. You can meet Fantastic Mr Fox himself. And you can even test your sparkiness on the Spark-o-Meter. There are storytelling sessions daily through school holidays and on most weekends, plus a café to scoff some whizzpopping treats (although you are also welcome to bring your own picnic too). Discover more.
Watch The Trailer For Wonka
From Paul King, the director of the charming Paddington movies comes this new origin story of how Willy Wonka became literature’s most famous – and famously eccentric – chocolate maker. Starring Timothée Chalamet in the titular role, he is supported by an all-star cast including Sally Hawkins, Olivia Coleman, Matt Lucas and Rowan Atkinson. It opens in December of this year and we cannot wait: undoubtedly one of our most anticipated movies of the year.
Practice Your Gobblefunk
Do you know your snozzcumber from your snozzwanger? One of the most enduringly delightful aspects of reading Roald Dahl, especially out loud with children, is his use of language. But his was more than just a way with words: he went so far as inventing his very own language which now we know as the always-glorious Gobblefunk, which was created chiefly though not exclusively through the pages of the brilliant BFG. Spanning 500-plus words of his own invention, from the Oompa-Loompa to the whangdoodle, you can brush up by buying a copy of The Oxford Roald Dahl Dictionary, within whose pages you may discover once and for the meaning of the words humplecrimp, grobblesquirt and frobscottle, amongst many such whizzpopping terms. Buy it.
Make A Costume
If you want to dress up but are stuck for ideas, do mine The School Run’s top tips for twelve easy no-sew Roald Dahl costume ideas, from Willy Wonka to the BFG. The best bit? You can use them again for World Book Day. Win-win.
Read Your Favourite Dahl Book
This goes without saying. Today is the day to read Dahl’s work, whether you’re doing so for the first time or revisiting old favourites. For us it’s a toss-up between Matilda, The Witches and the BFG – and we will take them in any dog-eared edition we can find. However, if you did want to lay hands on a particularly lovely copy, then the Folio Society’s The Roald Dahl Collection Set 1 (which includes Blake-illustrated versions of James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Twits and costs £80), is very special and would undoubtedly be treasured through generations of readers. As Dahl himself said, ‘If my books can help children become readers, then I feel I have accomplished something important’. There is also a second set, which contains The BFG, The Witches, Matilda (all of our favourites together!). Explore more.
Teach A Whoopsy Whiffling Class
Calling all teachers! Roald Dahl Story Day calls for extra fun in the classroom – and happily, the official Roald Dahl website obliges with a handy set of pre-prepped lesson plans specific to a variety of his books, from the BFG to James And The Giant Peach to Matilda and The Twits. And, although September 13th makes an apposite day to make use of such resources, they are available, free and ever popular all year round too. Pre-schoolers too have their own lesson plan – because, frankly, who between the ages of three and 103, doesn’t love a full immersion into a world where the pure-hearted always win over the mean-minded? Download them here.
By Nancy Alsop
September 2023
