Roald Dahl’s Influence on Children’s Literature

Who was your favorite author as a child? Children’s literature has immensely changed throughout time because of specific influences that made it what it is today. Specifically the author Roald Dahl, who had a great impact. Roald Dahl had a massive influence on children’s literature by making children look forward to reading, purposely writing in the mind of a child, and using a lot of wordplay in his stories. 

Roald Dahl influenced many authors to continue and improve their children's stories because his stories made children want to read and actually look forward to reading. The text states, “He is able to catch the reader from the very first sentence until the last word of the book” (Contribution to Children’s Literature). This demonstrates that Roald Dahl has affected literature because the way he writes his stories captivates the reader. This will also lead to inspiration to authors to write similar to him because it will allow their readers to be fascinated as well.  Secondly stated from a work of literature, “He is able to create characters that children find enjoyable and humorous” (Distinctive Work Done by Dahl). Since he created characters that children found enjoyable, it allows them to want to continue reading. Many authors of children’s literature such as David Williams made characters similar to Dahl’s because of that reason. Lastly, “Since his death, the U.K. editions of Dahl’s books have sold more than 30 million copies, making the author one of the 20th century’s most read writers” (Grayson). Roald Dahl had such an influence on children’s literature that copies were still made after he passed away. It also shows that his stories were very interesting to children that publishers wanted to continue to legacy.

Roald Dahl has also impacted children’s literature because he intentionally writes in the mind of a child. One piece of literature said, “ His books encouraged children to read because he understood how they worked; he loved to say words that sounded fun…” (Kavanagh). He influences authors to try to understand the readers from their point of view. This also helped authors who wrote children’s literature to acknowledge if their book would be fascinating to their readers. Furthermore another text states, “Dahl has a very distinct and silly way of writing” (Contribution To Children’s Literature and Education). He helped impact authors' way of writing stories; He changed stories from realistic or serious tones to silly and non-realistic. Lastly, “... the author’s experiences as a father telling bedtime stories to his daughters inspired him to try his hand at children’s literature” (Grayson). Dahl is showing authors that it is wonderful to use their own experiences to help understand the children reading the stories. 

Lastly, Dahl influenced children’s literature because he uses a lot of wordplay in his stories. The text illustrates, “He uses lots of sound words, interesting adjectives , and funny poems that allow children to enjoy each page of the book” (Distinctive Work Done By Dahl). By Dahl using a lot of vocabulary children will be able to lengthen their use of words. This is influential to authors because it shows them that even though they are creating a children’s story, it does not mean they have to incorporate uncomplicated words. Additionally, another text states, “ He built words and blended syllables and loved a good spoonerism, like Dahl’s Chickens [Charles Dickens]” (Kavanagh). Dahl influenced children’s literature by showing it is fine to be silly when writing words in stories. Finally one source states, “Roald Dahl...the first one to create such incredible words and show them the power of language, even though he died in 1990” (Kavanagh). Authors can now teach children while they are young the power of language, which Dahl has convinced the authors to do. 

In conclusion, Roald Dahl is an inspiration to children’s literature because his stories are amusing to children influencing them to read. He also completely understands how children work therefore children are amused with his stories. Lastly, Dahl lengthens children's vocabulary in his stories. Roald Dahl has had a great impact on children’s literature by making children look forward to reading, purposely writing in the mind of a child, and using a lot of wordplay in his stories. Roald Dahl has influenced an immense amount of authors to continue writing children’s literature and have the readers enjoy the stories they are reading.

Works Cited

"Contribution To Children's Education And Literature". Roald Dahl, 2020, https://authorstudyofcharka.weebly.com/contribution-to-childrens-education-and-literature.html.

Kavanagh, Carly-May. "The Significance Of Roald Dahl". The Edge, 2020, https://www.theedgesusu.co.uk/features/2016/09/13/the-significance-of-roald-dahl/#:~:text=His%20books%20encouraged%20children%20to,say%20words%20th

"Literature - Article - Dahl, Roald". Online.Infobase.Com, 2020, https://online.infobase.com/HRC/Search/Details/12?articleId=12296&q=roald%20dahl.