Sometimes it almost feels rude to include such well known authors on our #Booky100Keepers list - as if we're following some herd mentality about books that aren't actually that good, just including them in the list 'because we feel we have to'.

That's not really the case with Roald Dahl. Dahl is in our list because both my wife and I have had our own copies of Dahl's books for years - way before we started reading them to, and sharing them with C.

Weirdly though the ReadItDaddy Dahl love-in didn't begin with the book you'd think of first. "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" seems like the obvious go-to for anyone wanting to begin reading Dahl, but we actually found C loved the girl in "The Magic Finger" way before she had any appreciation for the mouth-watering descriptions of Wonka bars in the aforementioned best seller.

Girl's magic powers were an impossible to resist story mechanic, as was her awesome sense of social justice. So much so that when C's junior school had its first world book day, and the first set of dress-up duties we as parents would inevitably be drawn into, we had the easy and difficult task of trying to visualise Girl from the story (I mean exactly how do you 'make' a magic finger? We came up with a cardboard prop in the end and of course it didn't win any sort of class award, the kid who bought their costume off Ebay won - as they always do).

So yes we did eventually read "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" - strangely subdued in its reception by the boss of this blog, but "Matilda" was an entirely different matter. A bookish girl with magic powers? Yeah we're seeing a theme. In fact Matilda lit a fire under C's imagination, probably the single Dahl book she's returned to again and again.

With a taste for the darker stuff, it also goes without saying that "The Witches" is a clear favourite.

Who can possibly resist a dark and twisted children's story where the villains of the piece - a conference of nasty witches plotting the demise of all kids everywhere - are actually the real stars of the story, not so much the young boy who ends up transformed into a mouse by these nefarious creatures.

Perhaps there's something to be said for movie adaptations of Dahl's books, as the movie version of "The Witches" is utterly brilliant - and I think is a huge reason why C loves the book so much.

Finally, well worth a mention is "George's Marvellous Medicine" - One of my own favourite Dahl books - because of a rather spirited and brilliant reading on ancient kids TV programme Jackanory by one Rik Mayall (oh how I miss that guy, and wish he'd read more books on that hallowed proggy).

I hadn't realised it at the time but I'd been channelling Rik's version of George's granny when I read the books aloud to C when she was a tiny toddler.

Dahl is an expert at producing the most irresistible baddies for his books (aided by Quentin Blake's masterful squiggly illustrations of course), and you've got to wonder how many of them were drawn from actual people he knew (the likely answer is 'most of them').

George's Grandma is a real piece of work - A cantankerous old soul who demands tea made just so (I had a Nan like that though she was lovely, not an evil old crone like George's).

George concocts a brew she'll never forget, using every item he finds around the house (as Dahl was sagely forced to write in the afterword and forewords of this book - "Don't try this at home, kids!") - which has the effect of turning his Grandma into a stretched-out monster. Finally she shrinks away to nothing - but can George perform the same miracle on the family's chickens to net them a healthy profit? It's a completely crazy story and not one that comes up in most people's fave lists of Dahl titles, but it's excellent stuff.

So many authors have been touted as "The Next Roald Dahl" (David Walliams isn't quite fit to lick the big man's boots though it's obvious who his biggest influence is).

Truth be told there will never be another Roald, the children's publishing industry plays it way too safe to allow the sort of anarchic mayhem and purely evil characters you find in Dahl's books any more.

Original Review Links:

ReadItDaddy has an absolute Dahl-ing day out at the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre, Great Missenden, Bucks

"Roald Dahl's Opposites" by Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake (Puffin)

Happy Roald Dahl Day! Here's our review of "Billy and the Minpins" by Roald Dahl and Sir Quentin Blake (Puffin Books)

The Magic Finger by Roald Dahl (Puffin Books)

George's Marvellous Medicine by Roald Dahl (Puffin Books)

ReaditDaddy's Book of the Week - Week Ending 4th April 2014 - "The Giraffe, The Pelly and Me" by Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake (Puffin Books)

"James and the Giant Peach" - a Special Roald Dahl Day Review (Puffin Books)

ReadItDaddy's Chapter Book and Early Readers Roundup - April 2015

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Pop-up edition) by Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake (Puffin Books)

We're celebrating Roald Dahl Day, the great man's birthday with a roundup of some of the titles released with this year's theme...

Everyone has a favourite Roald Dahl book, and virtually everyone will always  pick "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" as their overall favourite.

But high on everyone's list must surely be the classic "James and the Giant Peach" - First published all the way back in 1961!

We're taking another look at this fantastic story to celebrate it being the focus and theme for this year's Roald Dahl Day so let's dive in.

I first read this to C when she was tiny, many years ago and it was lovely to revisit it - and whizz through it as it's such a nice easy and breezy read, the perfect book in fact if you're new to Dahl (where have you been!) and want a good jumping in point.

It's the story of young James, who lives with two horrible aunts, Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker.

James' parents were killed, apparently by a rampaging rhinoceros, leaving the poor little lad with his guardian aunts who are cruel and heartless, and treat him like a live-in slave.

James longs to break free of his miserable life, and his opportunity arrives after a brush with magic - and the discovery of a single peach growing in Spiker and Sponge's scruffy garden.

The peach grows to enormous size, and with the help of insects who are also gifted with giant size and the ability to speak and think by the same magic that affects the peach, James soon finds himself on a journey of discovery, and a destination set in his mind - New York, New York.

What always drew us in were the amazing descriptions of James' first bite of that peach and if you've ever enjoyed these fuzzy little fruit you'll know that Dahl's mouthwatering prose captured the feeling of biting into a juicy peach perfectly.

We also love a classic Dahl villain (or two, in this case) and Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker are just brilliantly realised.

But the true star is James, given a smidge of hope of a better life and grasping the opportunity with both hands, and making a stack of very special friends along the way.

The book was successfully translated into a brilliant animated film by Henry Selick, and it's also worth checking that out if you haven't seen it.

But as it stands, the book is potted perfection, a peachy treat that definitely bears reading and re-reading and belongs in your book collection without a doubt.

"James and the Giant Peach" by Roald Dahl, illustrated by Quentin Blake, is out now, published by Puffin (Self purchased, not provided for review). 

It's never too soon to wean your little ones onto the genius books of Roald Dahl (and of course Quentin Blake)...

Today is Roald Dahl Day! Celebrations always take place on the birth date of the world's most famous children's author, so we're joining in with a review of a book that's coming out today to celebrate the author's fantastic stories...

What a fantastic idea! A book full of fizzing whizzing science experiments based on one of our favourite Roald Dahl books! You bet we're in!!

Food chain McDonalds is teaming up with the Roald Dahl foundation for a truly scrumptiddlyumptious story treat as part of Happy Meal deals this month.

Kids will find a fantastic little mini library being given away with happy meals, offering a tempting taster of Roald Dahl's immense storytelling talent with a selection of brilliant mini books and stories.

You can find out more about the offer over at the McDonalds Happy Meal Page, including awesome news about the Roald Dahl-themed additions to the Happy Studio App:

http://www.mcdonalds.co.uk/ukhome/Family/Happy-meal.html

Having browsed through the selection of mini books ourselves, we're very excited to see this initiative - absolutely perfect for kids who've yet to discover the extraordinary world of Roald Dahl. Each book covers a specific theme (from awesome animals to crazy characters) so there's plenty to read and discover even for reluctant readers.

In addition there are vouchers on the Happy Meal box that can be taken into participating branches of WH Smith to claim one of a pair of awesome Dahl-themed books for £1 (usual RRP £4.99) while the promotion takes place.

Last but by no means least, there are 300 events set to tie in with the promotion. Find the nearest one to you here: http://www.mcdonalds.co.uk/ukhome/Family/family-events.html

Whether you're a fan of Matilda, go goo-goo over Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or are crazy about The Twits, there's something for everyone so join in today! The promotion runs for 6 weeks starting from 23rd September 2015.

"Claude on Holiday" by Alex T. Smith (Hodder Childrens Books)

Welcome to our March edition rounding up some of the amazing and awesome chapter books and early chapter readers we've been casting our eyes across over the last few weeks. And we're starting off with a long-time blog favourite penned by an awesome booktastic chap! Alex T. Smith's "Claude" series has been a favourite of Charlotte's for quite some time now and she constantly talks about the time she met Alex and got her copy of "Claude in the Spotlight" signed.

We've been catching up with the series courtesy of Hodder and join Claude on Holiday and Claude in the City in two further adventures, accompanied by his Tardis-like beret and his ever-faithful and dapper companion Sir Bobblysock.

In "Claude on Holiday" Claude and Sir Bobblysock are off for some desperately needed R & R to a lovely seaside resort. Strictly no adventures and no crazy antics, just sun, sea and sandcastles! Of course things don't always go according to plan for Claude and Sir! Excitement and adventure are never far behind, and as Claude settles in for a well earned rest, nefarious ne'er do well pirates seem set to scupper their hols! EGAD! Claude may be a little dog, slightly on the plump side, but he's a brave soul and so dive in to find out whether sharp-witted Claude and Sir Bobblysock can outwit those dimwit salty coves! Yo ho!

"Claude in the City" by Alex T. Smith (Hodder Children's Books)

"Claude in the City" returns Claude to slightly more cosmopolitan climes as Mr and Mrs Shinyshoes disappear to work for the day as usual, leaving Claude and Sir Bobblysock to plan their next grand adventure. Claude rather fancies hitting the town in fine style, visiting the sights, stopping by a cafe for a much needed sticky bun and a cup of Earl Grey but as seasoned Claude fans will know, excitement and adventure are usually around the next corner. There's a terrible robbery in progress and Claude ends up hopelessly mixed up in the caper! Smart doggies like Claude aren't foiled by gruff robbers though so it's time to swing into action!

It's easy to see why Charlotte loves these stories so. Alex has a keen wit (anyone who has ever followed him on Twitter can't help to hoot with laughter at his commentaries on popular TV shows as they air, particularly Downton Abbey!), his illustrations are utterly brilliant and the Claude stories achieve the perfect balance between picture book fun and chapter book depth. We love them to bits!!

Who could possibly follow an act as classy as Claude?

"Matilda" by Roald Dahl (Puffin Books)

Only one of the world's most best loved children's books. Matilda has been around since I was a wee whippersnapper but now Charlotte is getting her teeth into more wordy fare as she reads to herself at bedtime, she's ready to jump headfirst into the amazing book worlds of Roald Dahl. What better place to start than with the story of Matilda, a little girl with a huge intellect and a deep love of books.

Matilda's family don't share her enthusiasm for literature (in fact her parents are downright boorish). Despite this, Matilda finds her way to her local library and falls in love with all the books she finds there, rapidly working her way through the children's section before discovering the delights of The Secret Garden and Charles Dickens!

Matilda's rotten parents eventually send her off to school, and she meets the wonderful Miss Honey - a big hearted teacher who realises Matilda's potential, and also shares her love of books. Unfortunately the school's headmistress is one of the most terrifying characters ever created in children's literature. The huge, the hulking, the temperamental Miss Trunchbull - Ex-Olympic shot-putter and all round big fat horrendous bully.

Can Matilda's sharp intellect and quick wits help solve a mystery from Miss Honey's past? Will Matilda ever be free of her annoying parents and brother?

You'll have to read on and find out. It was quite something to see three girls in Charlotte's cloakroom at school drop-off all reading their own copy of Matilda the other day, testament to just how brilliant Dahl's books are and this book in particular! What a great place to start a life-long love affair with Mr Dahl's fantastic work!

One more before we go? Oh there's always room for one more....!

"The Secret Kitten" by Holly Webb (Stripes Publishing)

You'll have to wait a couple of weeks till you can enjoy "The Secret Kitten" by Holly Webb, but this is the amazing 30th book (30 BOOKS! 30!) in her wonderful animal stories series. Centred around a young girl named Lucy who goes to live with her Gran, it's a touching tale of a lonely little girl who finds solace in an unexpected friend. Gran doesn't like animals but Lucy can't help but fall in love with an adorable stray kitten she rescues and begins to look after in secret. Will Lucy's annoying brother find out? What will Gran say!

Holly Webb's animal stories are perfect for Charlotte's age group (and like Matilda, we've seen lots of kids toting books from the animal stories series at drop off and pickup times at home). Charlotte read through the story fairly quickly and gave it a huge thumbs up, wanting to track down more of Holly's astonishing collection so we'll be looking out for them very soon! "The Secret Kitten" is out on 6th April 2015 from Stripes (Little Tiger) and you can find out more about Holly's brilliant books on the Little Tiger / Stripes Website.

That's a wrap, tune in next month for more chapter book goodies in April's roundup!

We're slowly working our way through Roald Dahl's amazing catalogue of stories, and I can't understand how we'd previously missed "The Giraffe, The Pelly and Me" as it's easily one of the best Dahl books ever.

Spinning together the themes that made Dahl such a legendary author of children's books, you'll find a boy hero - an ordinary everyday sort of boy who dreams of owning the world's greatest sweetshop. He always daydreams about a property in his neighbourhood that would be absolutely perfect for the shop, an old ramshackle place that the boy is convinced he can fix up.

He's sad when he notices that someone else has bought the property, and what's more they seem to have fitted it with the strangest door you've ever seen.

All is revealed as the boy meets a giraffe, a pelican and a monkey who own their own window-cleaning business. But how on earth can a giraffe, a pelican and a monkey clean windows? They have no bucket and no ladder so how on earth can they possibly succeed?

The boy joins them as they take on their toughest job yet, cleaning the many windows of a manky stately home. Pelican reveals his amazing slide-top beak that can hold soapy water, Giraffe has the most amazing extendable neck to reach the highest windows, and monkey can shin up that neck and buff windows to a high sheen.

But window cleaning is just one of their many talents, as the rumbunctious owner of the stately home is burgled and calls on boy, Pelly, Giraffe and Monkey to help solve the crime!

We love getting lost in Dahl's descriptions, particularly of sweets. Here he makes your mouth water with descriptions of the finest sweets in the land, that the boy dreams he'll somehow stock in his store. You'll love Quentin Blake's trademark fluid and gorgeous illustrations that feel like they move and flow on the page and there really couldn't have been a better choice to illustrate Dahl's books than Blake.

Above all though, you'll love this book just as much as Dahl's other more well-known classics. Hooray for Giraffe, Pelly, Boy and Monkey!

Charlotte's best bit: The mysterious (and intricately illustrated) method of Pelly's beak deployment - and Giraffe's lovely eyelashes

Daddy's Favourite bit: Sometimes when it's quiet I can hear the great man himself reading his fabulous words in his gentle and lilting deep voice. There'll never be anyone to eclipse Dahl's talent. A booky superstar!

We've been continuing our journey through early chapter books, digging out a few of my old favourites along the way. You may have recently seen our review of "George's Marvellous Medicine" by Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake. We thought we'd tackle the equally brilliant "The Magic Finger" next before moving onto others.

For a fairly short and sweet book, "The Magic Finger" packs a wallop. Detailing the story of a young girl who has an extraordinary secret power, it does what Roald Dahl books do so brilliantly, creates situations and characters that children secretly would love to be able to recreate themselves.

"Girl" (for that is how she's referred to in the book) can concentrate really hard and "put the magic finger" on anyone who upsets her. A nasty teacher (a recurring theme in Dahl's books - and you'll know why if you've read Dahl's "Boy"), a set of rotten neighbours who like to hunt animals with their impressive collection of guns - Basically anyone who crosses "Girl" is in for a very nasty time indeed.

After an incident in class, Girl puts the magic finger on her teacher who grows into a massive and rather whiskery cat. Girl also puts the magic finger on Mr and Mrs Gregg and their sons Philip and William, after they slaughter deer and ducks while hunting for their supper. The effect on the Greggs is spellbinding and astounding, they swap places with the ducks they've been blazing away at - and realise the error of their ways.

Dahl has a way with presenting moral tales that don't wag a finger (magic or otherwise), don't preach, and tales that speak to children in a language that feels like their own. Sometimes very dark, quite often incredibly subversive but always with purpose and meaning. His characters here have impact, and the narrative is often delivered through their eyes as events unfold.

I remember when I first read this book, spending weeks wondering what it would be like to have that sort of power - to be able to right wrongs, become a finger-wielding superhero!

Charlotte liked the fact that the ducks get their revenge, but are actually quite forgiving (more than I would be if my entire family was blasted to bits by some thoughtless hunters). I love the subtle undertones of guilt that "Girl" feels when she wields her power, but always with a sense of right and wrong firmly underpinning her actions (I also love the fact that she mixes up her numbers at the start of the book - you'll see what I mean).

Quentin Blake's scratchy but well-suited illustrations are fab, and though this is one of the shorter Dahl books, it's brilliant for early readers who don't want to have to wade through a book that's going to take ages to deliver its payload.

Charlotte's best bit: Duck dinner time!

Daddy's Favourite bit: Magical and meaningful, with plenty of brilliant moments where you'd really love - or loathe - a power like Girl's

A firm favourite - "Charlotte's Web" by E.B. White

Picture books are brilliant. Picture books are our everyday staple fodder but we also like to pepper our reading with early reader chapter books and so that's the thinking behind our #ReadItMD13 Theme Week this week.

It's very difficult to wean children off the reasoning that a book without pictures is "Boring". As soon as they begin to realise that the nitty gritty of a good story can actually help them to create pictures in their own mind, they'll appreciate what you're trying to do, and they'll also begin to appreciate a book that can be gently 'chipped away at' over the course of a few nights.

Coming up on the blog very shortly is a guest piece fro Paula Harrison, author of the "Rescue Princess" series for Nosy Crow. Her books have been enjoyed by us and they are the perfect example of the sort of books we have in mind for this theme week. We've also dipped into classics, sometimes with great success (reading Roald Dahl never gets old and we've enjoyed most of his - aside from "Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator" which for some reason just didn't work for Charlotte). We've even attempted to read the full unexpurgated version of "The Wind in the Willows" but I think that's a book better appreciated when you can read it yourself at leisure.

So if your children are just at the age when they're starting to switch from picture books to early readers / early chapter books, let's hear your recommendations below!

Well how do you do, and how do you do, and how do you do again! It's always great to find an excuse to revisit Roald Dahl's meisterwork "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". We've been eyeing up this luxurious and lovely pop-up edition for a very long time. Thanks to a certain dapper little classmate at Charlotte's school she now has it (thanks for the birthday pressie, H!) and it's every bit as chocolatey and great as we hoped it would be.

If you've lived under a rock for most of your life, feeding on the nutritious microbes there, you may not have heard of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" so we'll try and share with you the scrum-diddly-umptiousness of it, in potted form.

Charlie, a poor young lad, loves chocolate but Charlie lives in a tumbledown shack with his parents Mr and Mrs Bucket, and four grandparents - Grandpa Joe and Grandma Josephine, and Grandpa George and Grandma Georgina. Thus, poor Charlie can only pass by the huge chocolate factory near his home - belonging to a rather secretive chap called Willy Wonka, dreaming of mallow whipple delights and strawberry fizz bombs.

A competition is announced, and Mr Willy Wonka will open the doors of his factory for the first time to a select few competition winners. A golden ticket, hidden inside Willy Wonka's chocolate bars, will allow the lucky winners to embark on a tour of the factory!

With mouthwatering descriptions and utterly brilliant characters, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" is often imitated, never bettered - just like Mr Wonka's lovely chocolate and sweets. If your children are still a bit too young to sit through the full version, this pop-up version offers a neatly abridged alternative - packed full of the fantastic illustrations of Sir Quentin Blake, adapted from the original versions of the book.

Thoroughly delicious!

Charlotte's best bit: She still obsesses about poor Violet Beauregarde and her blueberry-ness. Aww!

Daddy's favourite bit: The Oompah Loompah songs, brilliant and funny.