The Gremlins is a children's book, written by Roald Dahl and published in 1943.

It was Dahl's first children's book, and was written for Walt Disney Productions, as a promotional device for a feature-length animated film that was never made. With Dahl's assistance, a series of gremlin characters were developed, and while preproduction had begun, the film project was eventually abandoned, in part because the studio could not establish the precise rights of the "gremlin" story, and in part because the British Air Ministry that was heavily involved in the production because Dahl was on leave from his wartime Washington posting, insisted on final approval of script and production

mishaps. In Dahl's book, the gremlins' motivation for sabotaging British aircraft is revenge of the destruction of their forest home, which was razed to make way for an aircraft factory. The principal character in the book, Gus, has his Hawker Hurricane fighter destroyed over the English Channel by a gremlin, but is able to convince the gremlins as they parachute into the water that they should join forces against a common enemy, Hitler and the Nazis, rather than fight each other. Eventually, the gremlins are re-trained by the Royal Air Force to repair rather than sabotage aircraft, and restore Gus to active flight status after a particularly severe crash. The book also contains picturesque details about the ordinary lives of gremlins: baby gremlins, for instance, are known as widgets, and females as fifinellas, a name taken from the great "flying" filly racehorse Fifinella, that won both the Epsom Derby and Epsom Oaks in 1916, the year Dahl was born.

Synopsis: The story

concerns mischievous mythical creatures, the Gremlins of the title, often invoked by Royal Air Force pilots as an explanation of mechanical troubles and

BOOK 2

The Magic Finger

Although they are her friends, the girl becomes annoyed at the Greggs shooting and killing ducks and thus she points the magic finger at them. The next day the Greggs wake up as tiny people with wings instead of arms and their house is taken over by four human-size ducks with arms instead of wings. The Greggs are forced to leave and build a nest in one of the trees in their garden where they spend the night. The next morning they wake up to find the large ducks with the Greggs' guns standing under their tree, threatening to shoot in the same way that they have shot ducks. The Greggs promise never to hunt again and are changed back into normal humans. The next day, the girl goes to their house and finds the family smashing up their guns and setting up graves for the birds that they killed. They have even changed their name to "Egg"! The girl feels that things may have gotten a little out of hand but then hears a gun fired by another neighbouring family, the Coopers. She thus sets off, telling the Greggs that the Coopers will be nesting in the trees that night.

The Magic Finger is a children's story published by Roald Dahl in 1966. Although the original edition had
illustrations by William Pene du Bois, there have been later editions of the book with illustrations by Pat Mariott, Tony Ross, and Quentin Blake.

The story is about the Gregg family

that hunts ducks for fun and is narrated by an unnamed eight-year-old girl who lives next door to them. The girl possesses a power to punish people who make her cross called "the magic finger" but she has no control over what it does or when it happens. This gets her into big trouble, she wishes she did not have this finger because it is taking over her life.

BOOK 3

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

and the Chocolate Factory is a

Charlie

1964 children's book by British author Roald Dahl. The story features the adventures of young Charlie Bucket inside the chocolate factory of eccentric chocolatier Willy Wonka.

visit to his mysterious chocolate factory. Charlie Bucket is too poor to buy more than one candy bar a year, so when he wins a ticket, his whole family celebrates. The four other lucky children are not as nice as Charlie, and they're punished for their bad behavior. Greedy Augustus Gloop falls into the chocolate river he's trying to drink from and gets sucked up a pipe. Chewing-gum addict Violet Beauregarde grabs a stick of gum that blows her up into a giant blueberry. Spoiled Veruca Salt is deemed a "bad nut" by Wonka's trained squirrels and thrown in the garbage. And Mike Teavee demands to be "sent by television" and gets shrunk in the process. But there's a wonderful surprise waiting for Charlie at the end of the tour.

Poor Charlie Bucket is practically starving to death, but his luck changes for the better when he wins a lifetime supply of candy--and a chance to visit Willy Wonka's fabulous, top-secret chocolate factory. This charming, irreverent tale, one of Roald Dahl's best, has captivated children for more than thirty years. Five lucky people who find a Golden Ticket wrapped in one of Willy Wonka's wonderful candy bars win a

BOOK 4

The Minpins
up a tree as high and as fast as he can. When he comes to a rest, he notices windows opening all over the branches, and discovers a whole city of little people, the Minpins, living inside the tree. The leader of the Minpins, Don Mini, tells Little Billy that the monster waiting under the tree is not the Spittler (which the Minpins have never heard of), but the Red-Hot Smoke-Belching Gruncher, who grunches up everything in the forest. It seems that there is no way for Little Billy to safely get down from the tree and return home. But upon learning of the close friendship between the Minpins and birds, Little Billy devises a plan to rid the forest of the Gruncher: Little Billy flies on the back of a swan and uses his scent to lure the Gruncher into a

The Minpins (often misquoted as The Minipins) is a book by Roald Dahl with illustrations by Patrick Benson. It was published in 1991, a few months after Dahl's death in November 1990, and it is believed to be the author's final contribution to literature after an illustrious career spanning almost half a century. It is also one of the very few Dahl books not to be illustrated by Quentin Blake

lake. The water of the lake puts out the fire in the Gruncher's belly, killing him. The Minpins ittle Billy is forbidden by his mother to enter of the Whangdoodles, Hornswogglers, are grateful to Little Billy for ridding the forest of their tormentor. They reward him by sending the swan to serve as Little Billy's own personal transport every night, which he uses to explore the world and to continue his newfound friendship with the Minpins.

the Forest of Sin behind his house. She tells him Snozzwanglers and Vermicious knids that live in the forest. Worst of all is the Terrible Bloodsuckling Toothpluckling Stonechuckling Spittler, which chases its prey while glowing clouds of hot smoke pour out of his nose, and then swallows them up in one gulp. Little Billy doesn't believe his mother, and the Devil whispers to Little Billy that the monsters don't exist, and there is a plethora of luscious wild strawberries in the forest. Soon, Little Billy is walking through the forest when he hears something coming after him, and runs to escape it. As he looks back, he sees puffs of orangered smoke catching up with him. He escapes what he is sure must be the Spittler by climbing