Book #13


The Magic Finger by Roald Dahl


The story of a little girl with magical powers. When someone makes her angry she zaps a punishment on them with her magic flashing finger!


I had never read this one before as it isn't as popular as Dahl's others. I can see why this is; it's definitely my least favourite.

A little girl 'puts the magic finger' on her neighbours as they are hunters and she doesn't like it. They subsequently grow wings and are forced out of their house by four ducks. All very odd.

It's written in the first person, which is unusual for Dahl. It's clear that he's going for some sort of anti-hunting message, but there is something lacking here that is present in his other moral messages.

There’s not a lot of character back story, and I'd have liked to have learned more about how the girl discovered she had this magic finger, and some other things that she had done with it.

On the whole, I didn't think this was great, but it was short and interesting, and would probably be a bit more entertaining for a younger person. It just didn’t feel very Dahl to me.


13 / 72 books. 18% done!