George's Marvellous Medicine (1981)

George's Marvellous Medicine (1981)

Author: Roald Dahl  |  Illustrator: Quentin Blake  |  Page Count: 96

'She had pale brown teeth and a small puckered-up mouth like a dog's bottom.'

More than two decades of insomnia has hammered my brain so much that some days I can barely remember what I did the previous afternoon, which makes it all the more amazing that I can still recall easily the first time I read about George Kranky's Marvellous Medicine; Roald Dahl's storytelling has that kind of power.

It was a long time ago. I was aged ten. Four separate classes in the school that I attended (and loved) were gathered together in one room for an important presentation. As usual, I positioned myself next to the bookcase. It was there that I spied the book. After checking to make sure that I wasn't under scrutiny by anyone important, I borrowed it from the shelf.

I then shuffled my way quietly through a sea of cross-legged children on the floor to the back left corner, hid myself within the maelstrom as best I could, opened up the book and started to read. None of the teachers noticed and after a few minutes I forgot they even existed. I never did find out what was so important that it warranted four classes be gathered together like they were.

It's a short book with a simple plot. George's mother goes to town, leaving the eight-year-old at home with his grandmother. George hates his gran, but being the only one other than her in the house means he’s now responsible for administering the old girl’s daily dose of medicine. Instead of her regular brown medicine in a boring bottle, George decides to make his own concoction.

The adult part of me was screaming about how dangerous and irresponsible it all was, especially when the boy reached the garden shed, but the part of me that still enjoys that kind of freedom was rubbing his hands together wickedly and sniggering way too much.

If you've ever wanted to write for children, then there’s no better teacher than Dahl. Marvellous Medicine certainly isn't his best work, but he doesn't waste a single word and once the story really kicks off it doesn't stop, so there's still something to be learned from it.

George's father is a fun character. I'd never really considered his point of view before. Nor that of the chickens. I felt sorry for them. They get a bad enough deal as it is having a tiny brain, not being able to fly and being tasty when cooked.

Children will have a blast picturing all the weird ingredients that make up the extraordinary elixir, while adults will recognise and, hopefully, appreciate on a deeper level how significant events change everyone who partakes or witnesses them, even ones that don't take the medicine.