What do You think about The Magic Finger (2001)?
I have to admit that I'm cheating this week. I'm going to Sweden for the Midsummer Festival this weekend and I'm not sure how much I can read there. That's why I picked an extra short book that arrived by post today. I ordered the full box set of Roald Dahl's children's books and this week's pick was The Magic Finger. There's not much to say about this book. It took me ten minutes to read it. It's about a girl who, when she's upset, can use her magic finger to change the situation. In this story she is upset by the Gregg's because they shoot animals. This enrages her and she changes them to geese. It's a cute little tale, but nothing more than that. I wouldn't say it has a happy ending though and that's why I always kind of enjoy Dahl's books. They're cute horror stories for kids. To be honest Charlie and the Chocolate Factory still scares me. I think I should start reading that one soon as well...
—Dominique
Roald Dahl’s The Magic Finger may stop shy of all the avenues it could take to be a fully-fledged kid’s novel, but it’s an amusing short story as is.When I was a kid, I never thought of a book being a short story, novella, novel, etc.—a book was a book—but now that I’m an adult revisiting Roald Dahl, it’s clear how short The Magic Finger really is. The huge drawings from Pat Marriot also help speed things along (though it’s odd to me how many Dahl works I have where Quentin Blake—the staple I thought I had in my youth—is not the illustrator). The basic premise is that when an unnamed girl gets mad at someone, she points her finger and magic things happen. When she sees her neighbors, the Greggs, hunting ducks, she points her anger at them and they have an experience that has them questioning their previous views on how the world works. What I like about The Magic Finger is that it gives younger kids a bite-size questioning of our moral standards while keeping things entertaining. If the book were a bit longer, maybe for an older audience, the material could get a lot darker, but Dahl keeps that potentially grim plotline leashed. There’s very little on the girl with the magic finger either. She doesn’t even have a name or an origin story to her mysterious power. About all the reader knows is that this isn’t the first or last time her magic finger has unleashed an obscure form of judgment. The story is more about the Gregg family and their ordeal. Again, there could’ve been a lot on the effects of judgment, but Dahl keeps his plot bullseye clean within the ring.In rereading Dahl, I’m keeping track of his staples. As this is a shorter work, there isn’t the lone nice adult to balance out all the other cruel adults. This time around, I noted that Dahl doesn’t view guns favorably (in Fantastic Mr. Fox they’re brandished by career farmers, this time by a family of hunters). Off-hand, I can’t think of a book where he does present guns positively, which is interesting considering his wartime past. For all the ways kid fiction is full of things that parents wouldn’t want them to do (hence why kids find it entertaining), so far, guns remain negative. If we’re honest, adult books are full of things you shouldn’t do either (which is also part of what makes them compelling), but that’s a rabbit trail for another review. For now, I’ll say that The Magic Finger could’ve done much more, but its set limitations allowed it to do plenty. Three stars.
—Colin McKay Miller
So far, I just finished the book "The Magic Finger" by Roald Dahl. I always tend to like Roald Dahl's books, but this was one of my favorites. The story was about a family of ducks and another family of humans that switched lives for a day. They both learned different lessons that were very beneficial. I liked it because unlike some books that give you too much detail, this book gave you just enough to understand. And since normally I don't really read that many folktale or fairytale stories, it was nice to have a change. This is defiantly a fast paced book and there weren't that many pages to it. I liked the amazing and interesting features of the plot, and I really enjoy read creative books that really make our minds wonder. I’ll even rate it 5 stars!!! With all of that said… I hope you get the chance to read this book sometime and I hope you like it!
—Carolyn S
