Danny, the Champion of the World is a 1975 children's book by Roald Dahl. As in many of Dahl's books, the main character is a child protagonist who is imaginative and intelligent. This story is based on Dahl's adult short story "Champion of the World" which appears in "Claud's Dog".
Readers review
Danny the Champion of the World is a fantastic read, centred round a little boy, Danny, who lives with his father in a gypsy caravan. The close bond between father and son develops as Danny begins to discover there is more to his already wonderful and enchanting father than he ever knew. The story navigates through various different happenings in the life of Danny and his father from meeting the BFG, lighting hot air balloons and creating kites. Until Danny wakes up one night to find his father is missing from the caravan and discover his father’s weakness-poaching pheasants! They set out together on a journey to poach as many pheasants as they possibly can off of the greedy land owner Mr Victor Hazell, will they succeed in doing so? Well you’ll have to read on to find out and it is well worth doing so! An old time favourite amongst young and old, this book will make you feel excited with anticipation and desperate to turn over the next page. The book is great to read to key stage 2 as a treat in chapters as you’ll keep everyone’s attention in doing so. The story reflects on family, community and wildlife issues and will allow children to understand the problems surrounding these. The unusual illustrations by Quentin Blake make this also a light hearted read with the children having the opportunity to create their own drawings of passages in the book. That said there are many people out there who much prefer Jill Bennett's original evocative artwork, and it may worth seeking out a second hand older copy if possible. The film tie in edition still had Jill's work. It is a question of personal taste to be sure.