Teo Degas' Books & Decks

This is a very naughty fun book for people of all ages. A novella more than a proper novel, George's Marvellous Medicine tells what happens when Georges gets fed-up with his witchy grandma and decides to make a "medicine" to poison her. He takes everything he finds in the house, cosmetics, toiletries, laundry products, animal medicines and painting, mixes them all, feeds grandma with the mixture, and then weird things start to happen.

The character of George has a mix of naughtiness, good heart and innocence that will delight children and adults alike. The grandma is hateable from the very beginning, not so much at the end, and George's parents are quite normal people.

George's Marvellous Medicine is more for early teens than for children, as the mere concept of poisoning, vengeance, and murder seems a bit too complex to leave the small ones to evaluate on their own, even though this is children fiction. The characters seem quite normal, not part of a fairy-tale or fantasy story, so that is the main problem to me. Dahl himself saw the possible repercussions and included a note at the beginning of the book warning children not to do this at home. You don't want children to think that mixing chemicals and feeding people with them  is the right thing to do to deal with annoying personalities.

Most children books have an embedded teaching, no matter the fun is what attracts children to them. Personally, I would redirect my child's attention by asking him/her some rhetorical or open-ended questions at the end of the book:

1/ Georges hates his grandma, because she's a witch, right? But isn't what he does witchy? Isn't potion-making what witches do? Isn't George's behaviour that of a witch? 
2/ Why do you think grandma doesn't want children to grow? Was she happier when she was a child?
3/ Why is grandma so grumpy? Is because she is frail and alone? Is because she has mobility problems? Is because nobody pays attention to her? Is because she is sick? Is because of all it?
4/ Why does grandma get so excited when the "medicine" starts to work?
5/ What would happen if all the farm animals of the planet were fed with the gigantic potion? Would farmers need to use the potion again?
6/ Where does grandma go to in the end?
7/ What do you think you should do when somebody annoy us a lot? What annoys you?

Dahl's narrative in this work is simple but extremely playful with some tongue twisters that reminded me of Dr Seuss.

The illustrations by Quentin Blake are very sketchy, but also fluid and successfully illustrative. I like the way George is depicted, as somewhat matches my mental image of the character.

The Kindle edition is flawless, something that always makes me happy, especially because this is an expensive-ish 134-page e-book. This edition includes a bonus preview of two chapters of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory at the end, a brief story of Penguin Books,. and other promotional stuff to fill in more pages.

A very enjoyable amusing quick read, but supervision is needed for small children.