Review: The Twits by Roald Dahl

Title: The Twits
Author: Roald Dahl
Publication Date: 1980

From Goodreads:


How do you outwit a Twit? Mr. and Mrs. Twit are the smelliest, ugliest people in the world. They hate everything -- except playing mean jokes on each other, catching innocent birds to put in their Bird Pies, and making their caged monkeys, the Muggle-Wumps, stand on their heads all day. But the Muggle-Wumps have had enough. They don't just want out, they want revenge.






My Thoughts:


One of my favorite reading challenges this year is the Roald Dahl Challenge hosted by The Cheap Reader. I have had a stack of his books in my TBR pile for probably about a year now. I keep meaning to read them but never do. Well now I have an extra push to finally read these. They also count for the 2012 TBR Reading Challenge, so yay!

The Twits is a story about Mr. Twit and Mrs. Twit. They are horrible, wicked people who get their kicks by torturing each other by playing cruel pranks. Not only do they do terrible things to each other, but they also keep a family on monkeys in a cage in their backyard who they force to do tricks on a daily basis.

This was such a cute book and very fun. I don't know why I didn't pick it up earlier, especially since it is only 76 pages long and can be ready very quickly. As always, Dahl takes a unique idea and somehow makes the situation suitable for kids. I am so used to reading the "Don't Let The Pigeon..." books with my son everyday that I forget how violent children's books can be if you really think about it. This book isn't exactly violent, but if you allow your mind to wander from their pranks and think about the consequences (kids don't usually do this though) that you can see how crazy some of these pranks are.

Overall, I really liked this book. The Twits play some funny pranks on each other that I think young kids would love. I will be reading it with my son as soon as he is a little older. If you want a light, quick read, read this!