Reviews: (by author)

Dahl, Roald. The Umbrella Man and Other Stories . Viking (Penguin), 1998. $16.99. ISBN 0-6708-7854-5.

Best known for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Dahl is writing here for an adult audience. However the subject and treatment allows his stories to be considered for young adults; they contain no content that would be too deep or too upsetting. Most of the works are lightweight magazine fiction with "surprise-twist endings," undemanding and quite forgettable. However two stories stand out. The first is an autobiographical first person war story about RAF flyers in Greece, bombarded by the Germans, who try to shelter an orphaned Greek girl, against all odds. Entitled "Katrina," this story is authentic and moving. Dahl's collection is named for the other story, "The Umbrella Man." More humorous, it shows a mother and daughter following around a con-man who sold them a stolen umbrella, seeing how he operates. Unlike most of the other stories, this one lacks the heavy-handed morality that works so well in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but seems shallow in the adult tales.

Recommended reading level: Age 12 and up

Reviewed by Evelyn Butler

Dahl, Roald. Vile Verse. Illus. by many artists and with a Foreword by Quentin Blake, Illus. of most of Dahl's books. New York: Viking, 2005. $25.

This is a must-have book, at least it is if you are a Roald Dahl fan, your sense of humor is somewhat off straight, you have $25, and you have children. In other words, a quality-produced collection of verse by the always edgy Dahl is an event. Many of Dahl's kids' novels have verse in them. He wrote two books of rhymed, really funny poetry too. Vile Verse is a selection of poems from these different sources, famous ones about characters like Veruca Salt or retellings of fairy tale and fable. Some poems are revelations: previously unpublished work. The big book is nearly 200 pages and contains illustrations by an exciting, diverse array of contemporary artists. Overseeing it all and writing a fine Foreword is the U.K.'s Quentin Blake, the original illustrator of most of Dahl's books.

Alida Allison, January 2006

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