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Danny the Champion of the World Paperback – August 16, 2007
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Danny has a life any boy would love—his home is a gypsy caravan, he's the youngest master car mechanic around, and his best friend is his dad, who never runs out of wonderful stories to tell. But one night Danny discovers a shocking secret that his father has kept hidden for years. Soon Danny finds himself the mastermind behind the most incredible plot ever attempted against nasty Victor Hazell, a wealthy landowner with a bad attitude. Can they pull it off? If so, Danny will truly be the champion of the world.
- Print length202 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Grade level3 - 7
- Lexile measure770L
- Dimensions7.7 x 5 x 0.7 inches
- Publication dateAugust 16, 2007
- ISBN-100142410330
- ISBN-13978-0142410332
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What's it about?
Danny, a young boy, discovers a shocking secret about his father and becomes the mastermind behind an incredible plot against a wealthy landowner with a bad attitude.
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Most wonderful of all was the feeling that when I went to sleep, my father would still be there, very close to me, sitting in his chair by the fire, or lying in the bunk above my own.145 Kindle readers highlighted this
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Most of the really exciting things we do in our lives scare us to death. They wouldn’t be exciting if they didn’t.124 Kindle readers highlighted this
From the Publisher
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Nobody has seen Willy Wonka—or the inside of his amazing chocolate factory—in years. When Wonka announces his plans to invite the winners of five Golden Tickets to visit his factory, the whole world is after those tickets! Little Charlie Bucket longs to find a Golden Ticket and get the chance to visit the mysterious factory and well, he has just as much chance as anyone else, doesn’t he? |
James Henry Trotter lives with his two horrid aunts, Spiker and Sponge, who never let him have fun or play with other children. He hasn't got a single friend in the whole wide world. That is, not until he meets the Old Green Grasshopper and the rest of the insects aboard a giant, magical peach! |
The Big Friendly Giant, BFG, is unlike other giants. For a start, he’d rather eat repulsant snozzcumbers than chomp on innocent children—lucky for little Sophie, he is far too nice and jumbly. It's not long before the BFG becomes Sophie's very best friend, and the pair are hatching a clever plan to deal with the cruel and nasty giants—with a very exceptional ally. |
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| Matilda | Charlie and the Chocolate Factory | James and the Giant Peach | The BFG | The Witches | |
| Customer Reviews |
4.8 out of 5 stars
20,767
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4.7 out of 5 stars
19,440
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4.7 out of 5 stars
8,311
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4.7 out of 5 stars
12,249
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4.7 out of 5 stars
9,755
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| Price | $5.59$5.59 | $5.63$5.63 | $5.84$5.84 | $6.78$6.78 | $8.45$8.45 |
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
After establishing himself as a writer for adults, Roald Dahl began writing children’s stories in 1960 while living in England with his family. His first stories were written as entertainment for his own children, to whom many of his books are dedicated.
Roald Dahl is now considered one of the most beloved storytellers of our time. Although he passed away in 1990, his popularity continues to increase as his fantastic novels, including James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, The BFG, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, delight an ever-growing legion of fans.
Learn more about Roald Dahl on the official Roald Dahl Web site: www.roalddahl.com
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
WHEN I was four months old, my mother died suddenly and my father was left to look after me all by himself. This is how I looked at the time.
I had no brothers or sisters.
So all through my boyhood, from the age of four months onward, there was just us two, my father and me.
We lived in an old gypsy caravan behind a filling station. My father owned the filling station and the caravan and a small meadow behind, but that was about all he owned in the world. It was a very small filling station on a small country road surrounded by fields and woody hills.
While I was still a baby, my father washed me and fed me and changed my diapers and did all the millions of other things a mother normally does for her child. That is not an easy task for a man, especially when he has to earn his living at the same time by repairing automobile engines and serving customers with gasoline.
But my father didn't seem to mind. I think that all the love he had felt for my mother when she was alive he now lavished upon me. During my early years, I never had a moment's unhappiness or illness, and here I am on my fifth birthday.
I was now a scruffy little boy as you can see, with grease and oil all over me, but that was because I spent all day in the workshop helping my father with the automobiles.
The filling station itself had only two pumps. There was a wooden shed behind the pumps that served as an office. There was nothing in the office except an old table and a cash register to put the money into. It was one of those where you pressed a button and a bell rang and the drawer shot out with a terrific bang. I used to love that.
The square brick building to the right of the office was the workshop. My father built that himself with loving care, and it was the only really solid thing on the place. "We are engineers, you and I," he used to say to me. "We earn our living by repairing engines and we can't do good work in a rotten workshop." It was a fine workshop, big enough to take one automobile comfortably and leave plenty of room around the sides for working. It had a telephone so that customers could ring up and arrange to bring their cars in for repair.
The caravan was our house and our home. It was a real old gypsy wagon with big wheels and fine patterns painted all over it in yellow and red and blue. My father said it was at least one hundred and fifty years old. Many gypsy children, he said, had been born in it and had grown up within its wooden walls. With a horse to pull it, the old caravan must have wandered for thousands of miles along the roads and lanes of England. But now its wanderings were over, and because the wooden spokes in the wheels were beginning to rot, my father had propped it up underneath with bricks.
There was only one room in the caravan, and it wasn't much bigger than a fair-sized modern bathroom. It was a narrow room, the shape of the caravan itself, and against the back wall were two bunk beds, one above the other. The top one was my father's, the bottom one mine.
Although we had electric lights in the workshop, we were not allowed to have them in the caravan. The electricity people said it was unsafe to put wires into something as old and rickety as that. So we got our heat and light in much the same way as the gypsies had done years ago. There was a wood-burning stove with a chimney that went up through the roof, and this kept us warm in winter. There was a kerosene burner on which to boil a kettle or cook a stew, and there was a kerosene lamp hanging from the ceiling.
When I needed a bath, my father would heat a kettle of water and pour it into a basin. Then he would strip me naked and scrub me all over, standing up. This, I think, got me just as clean as if I were washed in a bathtub probably cleaner because I didn't finish up sitting in my own dirty water.
For furniture, we had two chairs and a small table, and those, apart from a tiny chest of drawers, were all the home comforts we possessed. They were all we needed.
The lavatory was a funny little wooden hut standing in the meadow way back of the caravan. It was fine in summertime, but I can tell you that sitting out there on a snowy day in winter was like sitting in an icebox.
Immediately behind the caravan was an old apple tree. It bore fine apples that ripened in the middle of September. You could go on picking them for the next four or
five weeks. Some of the boughs of the tree hung right over the caravan and when the wind blew the apples down in the night, they often landed on our roof. I would hear them going thump... thump... thump... above my head as I lay in my bunk, but those noises never frightened me because I knew exactly what was making them.
I really loved living in that gypsy caravan. I loved it especially in the evenings when I was tucked up in my
bunk and my father was telling me stories. The kerosene lamp was turned low, and I could see lumps of wood glowing red-hot in the old stove, and wonderful it was to
be lying there snug and warm in my bunk in that little room. Most wonderful of all was the feeling that when I went to sleep, my father would still be there, very close to
me, sitting in his chair by the fire, or lying in the bunk above my own.
Product details
- Publisher : Viking Books for Young Readers; Reprint edition (August 16, 2007)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 202 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0142410330
- ISBN-13 : 978-0142410332
- Reading age : 7 - 10 years, from customers
- Lexile measure : 770L
- Grade level : 3 - 7
- Item Weight : 2.31 pounds
- Dimensions : 7.7 x 5 x 0.7 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #53,641 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #910 in Children's Classics
- #1,481 in Children's Humor
- #2,266 in Children's Action & Adventure Books (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

The son of Norwegian parents, Roald Dahl was born in Wales in 1916 and educated at Repton. He was a fighter pilot for the RAF during World War Two, and it was while writing about his experiences during this time that he started his career as an author.
His fabulously popular children's books are read by children all over the world. Some of his better-known works include James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Fantastic Mr Fox, Matilda, The Witches, and The BFG.
He died in November 1990.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the story breathtaking, with drama, suspense, and detail. They also say the content has adventure and excitement. Readers describe the book as an easy, interesting read with great content for all ages. They appreciate the masterfully crafted characters.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers find the book breathtaking, classic, and a great book for kids. They also praise the relationships, drama, coziness, detail, suspense, and cute story.
"...this before reading it to my child and was I ever grateful for the touching story with just enough tension and suspense...." Read more
"...It's a great book – my favorite Roald Dahl book. My grandsons are almost old enough now so it looks like I'll get to enjoy it all over again." Read more
"This is a wonderful book, and represents the artful storyteller Dahl at his best...." Read more
"...The relationships, drama, coziness, detail & suspense are tops?" Read more
Customers find the book has adventure, excitement, and great potential to spark interesting conversations with children and adults. They also say it's an entertaining read for both kids and adults, with super imagination and depth. Readers also mention that the touching story has enough tension and suspense.
"...and was I ever grateful for the touching story with just enough tension and suspense...." Read more
"...It contains his usual wit, suspense, and masterfully-crafted characters...." Read more
"...The relationships, drama, coziness, detail & suspense are tops?" Read more
"...was "James and the Giant Peach." Books like this spark a child's imagination and help develop a love of reading." Read more
Customers find the book easy to read, descriptive, and beautiful. They also say the book is entertaining with appropriate language and a great study guide. Readers also mention that the book has wonderful illustrations in this edition.
"...The seller was honest, prompt and helpful with my inquiries. The shipment was quick and reasonably priced...." Read more
"...The relationships, drama, coziness, detail & suspense are tops?" Read more
"...The writing is beautiful and the characters are so colorful...." Read more
"The book is an easy to read tale of a boy and his single parent father which has great potential to spark interesting conversations with children..." Read more
Customers find the book a great read for all ages and a fantastic book to read out loud. They also appreciate the relationships, drama, cozyness, detail, and suspense.
"...The relationships, drama, coziness, detail & suspense are tops?" Read more
"...; Books like this spark a child's imagination and help develop a love of reading." Read more
"...'s favorites so even after a fireman's day at work,sitting down to read together is relaxing...." Read more
"...A great read for all ages!" Read more
Customers find the characters in the book masterfully crafted. They also say the relationship between Danny and his father is lovely.
"...It contains his usual wit, suspense, and masterfully-crafted characters...." Read more
"...The writing is beautiful and the characters are so colorful...." Read more
"...Danny is a very likeable character who seems at first to be the adult and moral compass of the book...." Read more
"...This is such an excellent novel for character study, and I also use it as a compare/contrast with a media version...." Read more
Customers find the humor in the book really funny.
"...dissapoint wityh this story and incidentally it is easily THE most comical story I have ever read. I am 35yo and a voracious reader and writer myself." Read more
"This book is very funny in spots. I have read it to my classes many times in the past years...." Read more
"A sweet and curious tale about a boy and his father. Adorable and humorous and an easy read for kids and adults." Read more
"This story is a funny story. It is a book that you can't stop reading. It is a wonderful book that you will love." Read more
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In particular, the special relationship between the father and the son is described more richly than in any other story I can think of. It's a warm relationship, and keeps a delicate balance between their being best buddies and maintaining the distinct father/son roles.
There is one difficult point, however. Throughout the story, the main characters freely trespass and steal, and they plot humilation for the wealthy landowner nearby. These things are justified in the dialog in that 1) everyone does it, 2) it makes you "feel alive" with the thrill of possibly being caught, and 3) the landowner is mean, anyway. Not exactly the sorts of messages you want your kids to pick up from a book. You may want to be prepared to discuss this with them before reading it.











