Boy (book)

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Boy book cover

Boy: Tales of Childhood (1984) is the first autobiographical book by Roald Dahl (1916–1990), the author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda and The BFG.

This book covers Dahl's life, from his first memories onward to leaving school, including accounts of his relationship with his mother and his treatment at English public schools. Like most of Dahl's work, Boy is aimed at children but does not flinch from describing the corporal punishment and other brutalities that were common in public schools at that time. It begins with a short history of his family and ends with his first job (he does not go to the university but starts working right after high school).

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Roald Dahl’s parents were Norwegian.

In the book, Dahl describes the horrid teachers and the even more fearsome Headmasters. The book discusses the ramifications of small mistakes or faults like forgetting pair of socks on the floor just before bedtime, burning your toast at tea, or even small things such as asking a teacher if you could go to the toilet at the "wrong time". The book says that these things could result in caning and penal servitude by the "higher-placed" persons in Roald’s society.

1987 edition

Even though Roald’s father died when Roald was three years old, Roald’s mother, Sofie Magdalena Dahl, travelled on annual summer vacations to Norway together with all her children. Roald’s grandparents lived by the coast in Norway, and by tradition the entire family took a small boat out to a little vacant island at shore. Here they lived a pretty primitive life with traditional Norwegian food and adventurous experiences around the sunbathed, idyllic island.

This book follows important, and some smaller events of Roald’s childhood. From the Great Mouse Plot when he went to Llandaff Cathedral School and terrorized Ms. Pratchett,the dirty owner of his favorite sweet shop, to the removal of young Roald’s adenoids without any form for pain-relievers, the book covers a variety of subjects. Many of Dahl’s descriptions are grotesque and lifelike, however, these descriptions are insight into what the situation was like in the twenties.

The book ends when Roald finishes school and goes to Africa to work for Shell oil company. Dahl's autobiography continues in Going Solo.