Welcome to the Dahl House

Roald and the giant feat: an illustrated treasury for all time

It's a fact that must be faced by every mom and pop. There comes that awful day when innocence is somehow lost and the Berenstain Bears just won't cut it. Say a moist farewell to your freckle-faced boy and your pigtailed cheruhina. They may or may not favor you with a glance and a wave over the shoulder as they cross the enchanted frontier into Dahl-land. (Though, if you learn to be very, very good, you may get them back. But the Pied Piper will have had them in his thrall, and it will show.)

Those searching for a map of the Piper's domain may rummage with profit through a new compendium. The Roald Dahl Treasury— out next month from Viking— teaches grown-ups to lip-read and then lisp the names of Willy Wonka, Matilda, and the Oompa-Loompas. Of course, they can't be expected to understand everything at first. But the exercise is worthwhile for instilling character and curiosity. In The BFG (Big Friendly Giant), the child is urged to acquaint himself with a book called Nicholas Nickleby, by an author named "Dahl's Chickens." And, just as you can't have the pathos of Smike without the cruelty of Wackford Squeers, so you can't appreciate Dahl unless you have a taste for the grotesque as well as the innocent. A weakness for puns and wordplays is a help, too.

The "treasury" is abundantly illustrated, by, among others, Ralph Steadman, who has been striving to get in touch with his inner Dahl for many a year. Lurking amidst the old favorites like Veruca Salt and the Minpins are shards of unpublished letters, verse, and memorabilia. If it were by any other author, it could be described as a book for all the family. As it is, we have here one of the most advanced manuals in the arduous process of parent rearing.

CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS