A True Treasury

Last night I was thinking about what I wanted to write about today.. I have always had a bit of an obsession with Roald Dahl. I'm sure most people know who he is just by his name. But I'm betting there are some that have no idea who he is too.
 Well, Roald Dahl just so happens to have, in my opinion, the greatest, most creative minds in the literature world. He is the very successful author of Matilda, The BFG, The Witches, The Twits, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach.. to name a few. I decided, I believe after having read Matilda in grade three, that he was my idol. In grade three I was nine, which would make it 1994. Little did I know at the time, that he was long gone. He died November, 1990. I was five years old and didn't even know how to read the year he passed away.

 I remember doing an autobiography on Mr. Dahl when I was in grade school. I learned all sorts of facts about him doing that project. He joined the Royal Air Force in World War II as an aircraftman and he left in a much higher ranking as a wing commander. He was married to Patricia Neal, an actress and they had four daughters and one son together. Four of Dahl's children are alive and well today.

 Roald Dahl is known for his exceptional writing career as a children's author. But he is also known for writing short stories for adults. I have read his short stories and they are known for surprising, twisted, dark endings. Even his children's stories have dark humour littered throughout them. I think that's what I enjoyed so much about his writing. As a child, I loved how he had no limits. He would create his villains to be so awful and grotesque with even uglier personalities. But, his heroes would be the exact opposite; good, wholesome very beautiful and sweet individuals. He was an extremist when creating his characters and plots. Animals ate children. Parents and witches hated them. The content seems awful but it was very enjoyable for me, as a child to read.
 All of Dahl's characters were clumsy and imperfect.. the good and the bad. That's why Dahl's illustrator Quentin Blake was the man to recreate them in pictures. Blake's illustrations completed Dahl's characters and to this day when I see Blake's illustrations, I think of Mr. Dahl and his fantastic stories.

 I will forever cherish my Roald Dahl Treasures that I have collected over the years. Every time my family would go into the big city we would usually go to a mall of some sort. I used to quiver with excitement at the very thought of going into a Cole's bookstore. (Before Chapters even existed!) I would rush to the children's section to see which Roald Dahl book they carried. I almost always bought a new one for my collection. My most prized book was the Roald Dahl Treasury that my aunt bought for my mom to give me for Christmas. It is full of his best short stories, poems and even personal scribbles. Roald Dahl was into inventing things and some of his scrap pieces of paper with his cooky ideas are in the treasury as well. I would love to be able to sit down with Mr. Dahl and just talk to him for a few minutes. I imagine he was a very interesting man, with a hell of a sense of humour.

My Collection..

Laying in my Collection.. it felt like the right thing to do...

 I still have all of my Roald Dahl books and will one day pass them onto Alina or any other children that I have.. IF they share the love of reading like I do. IF my son or daughter loves and appreciates Roald Dahl books like I did, and thinks of them as treasures waiting to be discovered than he or she can have my collection. Until then...

I introduced her to my books..

I laid the books all around her and then quickly snapped my pictures.. Until she reads, I think I'll keep them out of her sticky little hands.. and drooling little mouth..!