WIRRAL-based Caroline Smailes is the author of books such as Search of Adam, Like Bees to Honey and Black Boxes. She chooses The Twits by Roald Dahl.
“WITH the recent National Libraries Day I’ve been reminded of childhood visits and there only being one shelf of children’s books in my local library.
That’s where I discovered Roald Dahl. And that’s where I’d get the same book out, week after week.
The Twits by Roald Dahl, for me, is storytelling at its finest. Key elements of fairy tale are mixed into a world that children recognise, a world that isn’t always safe.
The section where Mr Twit’s hairy face is described, where the ‘moustachy bristles’ are said to host month-old food, still turns my stomach and, as a result, I still eye people with beards with suspicion.
The Twits shows the child reader a revolting couple, who never wash, who eat and trap birds and who hate children. And then, Roald Dahl shows his reader just how good can conquer evil and how right and wrong can be blurred when needs must.
The Twits, for me, is timeless and possibly perfect.”
