The other poems and short stories, some from Dirty Beasts and Revolting Rhymes, had just as much charm as they did the first time around.

I'd not read a whole lot of Roald Dahl, but I knew the stories and had watched several of the films and loved them. Of the Dahl books I read and thus reread the excerpts - I noticed that in particular the My Year and Boy: tales of childhood sections were well chosen and I thoroughly enjoyed re-reading them. were full and not in excerpts even though I know that would have made this already huge book, even bigger.

Stories that I somehow missed during my childhood including The Enormous Crocodile, The Minpins and extracts from My Year were especially nice to come across. His life seems absolutely fascinating, and the excerpts we have in this Treasury are just teasers of the breadth of his skill at his craft.

A selection of guest illustrators including Raymond Briggs and Ralph Steadman add visual variety to the extracts.

We celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stories, traditions and living cultures; and we pay our respects to Elders past and present. Everything is, of course, accompanied by beautiful illustrations, most of which are by Quentin Blake, some of which have been contributed by various other artists (including Ralph Steadman! This is an interesting look at the life of Dahl and his various creations from talking foxes outsmarting humans to witches set on turning all children into mice.

The book also includes an excerpt from an interview given by Dahl and many letters exchanged between Dahl and family members, including Ophelia Dahl. Included amongst excerpts from all of Dahl's children's books and some previously unpublished material, are unexpurgated colour reprints of The Enormous Crocodile, The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me, Esio Trot and The Minpins. And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places.Through these areas, we get a good glimpse at the diversity of Dahl’s writings, all of which are accompanied by lovely illustrations by Quentin Blake for the most part, but also by Raymond Briggs, Babette Cole, Posy Simmonds and Ralph Steadman. Plus work by a few other artists of note: Patrick Benson, Ralph Steadman, Raymond Briggs, Babette Cole, Posy Simmonds, Fritz Wegner and others. Information on identifying editions is from Richard Walker’s “Roald Dahl – A Guide to Collecting His First Editions”. I only wish there had been a little more editorial narration/inserts, like the first couple of pieces by his editor and daughter, to better frame the sections of the book – like mini-introductions to each section.

Lavishly produced and illustrated in full-color, it features artwork by such prominent illustrators as Quentin Blake, Lane Smith, and Raymond Briggs. He taught illustration for over twenty years at the Royal College of Art, of which he is an honorary professor. It's impossible not to feel chirpy after reading Dahl's downright hilarious poems (which are a quirky take on age-old fairytales! This extraordinary collection takes readers on a fascinating journey into Dahl's unique imagination.This is a collection of snippets (and whatever the appropriate word for entended snippets is) of the wondrous works of the greatest storyteller of all time. Robert McCrum of The Observer deemed it "a sumptuously illustrated anthology" and "a wonderful introduction" to Dahl's work for children. Seeing Dahl through is work is marvelous, but there is also something very precious in seeing him through the eyes of those who worked and lived closest to him for very long periods of time. All of this is complemented not just by the quintessential Quentin Blake but by other amazing artists. There were lovely retellings of fairy tales with twists and personal life stories from Dahl and short stories and poems from his other books.