The Magic Finger - Roald Dahl

Summary:  What happens when the hunter becomes the hunted?  To the Gregg family, hunting is just plain fun.  To the girl who lives next door, it’s just plain horrible.  She tries to be polite.  She tries to talk them out of it, but the Greggs only laugh at her.  Then one day the Greggs go to far, and the little girl turns her Magic Finger on them.  When she’s very, very angry, the little girl’s Magic Finger takes over.  She really can’t control it, and now it’s turned the Greggs into birds!  Before they know it, the Greggs are living in a next, and that’s just the beginning of their problems… (Summary from book – Image from www.randombuzzers.com )

My Review:  The little girl who lives next door to the Gregg family does not like hunting – something that the Gregg family does an awful lot.  Ordinarily neighbors would just have to agree to disagree, but this little girl has a magic finger and when she turns it on the Gregg family the feathers begin to fly.

I don’t often read children’s books on my own, but in this case I wanted to see if this book would make an interesting read-aloud for my six-year-old, or a better read-alone for my eight-year-old.  Having read all 63-pages, I think it would work for either of them.   There were roughly drawn illustrations on every page and the story was very simple and straight forward.  Girl curses family of hunters with her magic finger.  Family turns into birds and learn their lesson.  While I can’t say that I was riveted, and I would have liked a little back story on the girl’s magic finger, I think that younger minds would enjoy it. 

My Rating: 3 Stars

For the sensitive reader:  If you are an avid hunter, you’ll probably hate this book.  When the Gregg’s learn what it feels like to be hunted, they vow to never hunt again.  They also get guns pointed at them. 

Sum it up: Fine for the young reader, but nothing terribly special.