The Twits, The Minpins, and The Magic Finger by Roald Dahl

Title: The Twits, The Minpins, and The Magic Finger
Author: Roald Dahl
Read by:  Richard Ayoade, Bill Bailey, and Kate Winslet
Publisher: Penguin Audio

Length: Approximately 1 Hour (2 CDs)
Source:  Review Copy from Penguin Thanks!

My ten year old son Kile, my eight year old son Daniel, and I started listening to this collection on the way to Mom and Son Scout camp.  Their five –year old sister Penelope started listening at the end of The Twits when we returned home and now we can’t go anywhere without listening to “a story” by Roald Dahl.  Although Kile is at regular Scout Camp this week and we were told that we cannot listen to any more of Matilda without him.  

The Twits are the most miserable people you have ever met.  They spend their time putting glue on a tree to catch birds for their bird pie and maybe a spare boy or two.  The monkeys they keep caged decide that they are tired of their and the birds’ situations and are set for vengeance.  The kids thought this was hilarious.

The Minpins was by far the favorite story for my kids.  It was a great fantasy story about a boy, Billy, who ventures out into the woods against his mother’s advice and discovers that the beast she had warned him of is all too real and has him cornered in a tree.  While there, he also discovers an entire race of small people living in the trees who ride birds.  Will Billy be able to find his way back home?

A girl has The Magic Finger and turns a family of hunters into the hunted so that they can learn what it is like to be a family of ducks. 

This audio collection is superb with great jaunty music before and after each story and fantastically expressive narrators for all three stories.  It is incredibly engaging for not only the children to listen to, but their mother as well.

Overall, this is a fantastic collection of stories that are full of Roald Dahl’s inventive storytelling and dark humor.  My kids and I loved it and are now continuing on into listening to Matilda.