Danny the Champion of the World - Softcover

Dahl, Roald

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0573150168 ISBN 13: 9780573150166

Publisher: Samuel French Ltd, 2006

Synopsis

Nine-year-old Danny lives happily in a gypsy caravan with his father, but his world is turned upside down when he learns that his father poaches pheasants from the estate of the nasty, greedy Victor Hazell. One night his father doesn't return from a poaching run and Danny fears the worst. Danny sets off on a courageous journey to find his father and with a little help from the village soon finds himself masterminding the most incredible and exciting plot ever attempted against Victor Hazell.

About this title

Review

"My father, without the slightest doubt, was the most marvelous and exciting father any boy ever had." Danny feels very lucky. He adores his life with his father, living in a gypsy caravan, listening to his stories, tending their gas station, puttering around the workshop, and occasionally taking off to fly home-built gas balloons and kites. His father has raised him on his own, ever since Danny's mother died when he was four months old. Life is peaceful and wonderful... until he turns 9 and discovers his father's one vice. 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. Danny is right up to Roald Dahl's impishly brilliant standards. An intense and beautiful father-son relationship is balanced with sublegal high jinks that will have even the most rigid law-abider rooting them on. Dahl's inimitable way with words leaves the reader simultaneously satisfied and itching for more. (Ages 9 to 13) --Emilie Coulter

From the Inside Flap

Danny's life seems perfect: his home is a gypsy caravan, he's the youngest car mechanic around, and his best friend is his dad, who never runs out of wonderful stories to tell. And when Danny discovers his father's secret, he's off on the adventure of a lifetime. Here's Roald Dahl's famous story about a 9-year-old boy, his dad, and a daring and hilarious pheasant-snatching expedition. Just as important, it's the story of the love between a boy and his father who, in Danny's own words, is "the most marvelous and exciting father a boy ever had."

About this edition

• Publisher: Samuel French Ltd
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0573150168
• ISBN 13: 9780573150166
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 124