Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Roald Dahl: Celebrating his life and legacy of literacy


During the month of September, the literary world recalls and honors the memory of Roald Dahl, versatile and prolific writer from the 20th century whose body of work spanned everything from teleplays and film scripts, to adult short stories and children’s books.

His personal life read like a good novel, and he was enormously successful during his lifetime.

Today, it is Dahl’s children’s literature that consistently crosses the boundaries of time and garners legions of new followers.

A huge proponent of literacy, his writing style was from a child’s point of view and oftentimes encompassed the dark realities of life mixed with fantasy and a good dose of humor.

Born September 13, 1916 in Wales, Dahl began his writing career in the early 1940’s and continued to work on manuscripts until his death in 1990.

Today, it is not only his printed books that have a following but his GRAMMY nominated unabridged audiobooks from HarperCollins Publishers.

These are superbly produced recordings of favorite Roald Dahl classics, which include brief musical embeds and are narrated by the author himself or performed by some of the finest actors of our time such as Jeremy Irons, Lynn Redgrave, Eric Idle, and the late Natasha Richardson.

Below is a list of available Roald Dahl audio and printed children’s books along with biographical links to the narrators.

You can preview each of the recordings, connect to a multitude of favorite online retailers for reviews, or simply purchase any of the books or recordings by following the title and actor links separately.

The Roald Dahl Audio CD Collection, narrated by the author, includes such classics as: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; James and the Giant Peach; Fantastic Mr. Fox; The Enormous Crocodile and The Magic Finger

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar Unabridged CD and book narrated by David Suchet

The BFG CD Unabridged narrated by Natasha Richardson

Twits CD Unabridged narrated by Simon Callow

The Witches CD Unabridged narrated by Lynn Redgrave

Fantastic Mr. Fox Unabridged narrated by Roald Dahl

Going Solo narrated by Derek Jacobi

Boy Unabridged
narrated by Derek Jacobi

George's Marvelous Medicine CD Unabridged narrated by Richard E. Grant

Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator Unabridged narrated by Eric Idle

James and the Giant Peach, narrated by Jeremy Irons

The Giraffe, The Pelly and Me (Unabridged) narrated by Richard E. Grant

Esio Trot & the Minpins (Unabridged)
narrated by Joanna Lumley

Charlie and The Chocolate Factory CD (Unabridged)
narrated by Eric Idle

Revolting Rhymes & Dirty Beasts (Unabridged) narrated by Alan Cumming

Danny, the Champion of the World Audio narrated by Robert Powell

Matilda Audio narrated by Jean Marsh

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