The Twits - Roald Dahl

Hello Ciaoers! I am continuing in my quest to do reviews on some of my favourite childrens books, and surprise surprise, it's a book by Roald Dahl. This one is called:

THE TWITS

On to the story!

Mr and Mrs Twit were a throughly nasty pair of people. They were old, nasty, cruel and unforgiving, but most of all...they were twits! They were born twits and have been the same all their lives. Their house has no windows as it's all bricked up except for the doors and the garden is full of weeds and nettles to keep out little girls and boys. Mr and Mrs Twit don't wash or groom and are two of the ugliest people you'll ever see or read about. Mr and Mrs Twit are always playing tricks on each other. At least half of the book is devoted to the way they play practical jokes on each other and then how they retaliate! (and they say that romance is dead...love actually hasn't got anything on these two!!) They were also retired and used to work in a circus training monkeys!

Now you have to understand that these two aren't exactly from the brady bunch backround. For the Twits, saying thank you is as irritating as a three year old kid constantly saying: "Are we there yet?" when you've been in the car for 5 hours

Now Mr Twit has some monkeys that he keeps, four in fact, in a cage. The monkeys were the ones that suffered, in fact they had to do everything upside down, which they hate. They just want to go back to their home in Africa but the chances of that happening are somewhat extinct......that is until they meet the Roly-Poly Bird who is on a vacation and he decides to help the monkeys escape from their horrible prison whilst teaching the Twits a lesson that they'll never forget!

WARNING: SPOILER AHEAD, IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW THEN LOOK AWAY NOW OR SKIP AHEAD!

The Twits decide to go out to buy themselves some guns to shoot the pesky birds that have been landing all over their garden. So now is the chance that the Roly-Poly Bird and the monkeys have been waiting for. They decide to turn Mr and Mrs Twit's world upside down...literally! They are going to take everything in that house and turn it upside down, so that they will know what it feels like for the monkeys to be upside down every day!
So the carpet, the furniture and absolutely everything is stuck to the ceiling using super glue. When the Twits come back they get glue painted on their heads. Upon seeing the house, they realise that the only solution is to stand on their heads and that way they will be standing upright. That however is not the answer and their heads get stuck to the floor and they stay that way! oops!
Unfortunately, they start to shrink and shrink because of standing on their heads for so long. Soon they had disappeared altogether!

THE END!!

I think this is a fantastic book for a child to read. With every book that Roald Dahl has published, every one is slightly different. Sometimes it's in the way he writes, the way the book is presented or some other little detail is changed. The Twits is no exception. Little details that caught my attention were detailed descriptions of Mr and Mrs Twit. Entire chapters would be devoted to these two idiots.....(finally calling something other than a twit!) Again Quentin Blake has stepped in and helped out with the illustrations which are also different. Some pictures are even labelled this time just in case you can't tell what something is! The illustrations are in black and white but in colour on the front of the book. I think it is better in black and white as it allows children to imagine what colours might be there! Roald Dahl writes in a way that gets the readers involved in this book. He asks the reader questions directly such as: "And what do you suppose that is?" "Did you ever see anything more ugly than that?" It's a technique that attracts me to his books and gets children thinking about what the author is saying! Overall...great fun for all, not just kids!

Now in my cons section at the top of this page, I said that kids should not be encouraged to take seriously some of what they read in this book. This is a lighthearted comment people but still, I wouldn't say to your little girl or boy that if you have ugly thoughts they it begins to show on the face. I was quite little when I first read that and subsequently went around with a grin on my face for the next three weeks, trying to have happy thoughts so I wouldn't look ugly. I looked like I'd slept with a coat hanger in my gob!

I'm serious! Stop laughing!!

I also wouldn't suggest to your kids that if you stand on your heads for along time that they will shrink until they disappear! (not that I believed that one...not that gullible!)

Here are a few techie details just in case you want to buy this book:

ISBN: 0-14-031406-7
Title: The Twits
Author: Roald Dahl
Illustrator: Quentin Blake
Publisher: Puffin Books (Penguin Group)
Price: £2.99
Where to buy: Amazon, WHsmiths, Ebay, Ottakars, Waterstones

Hope you like this book as much as I did!

Happy trails kids!

Leila :)