HongKongLady said
do you know the word of dysmenorrhea is Latin? From Greek

No.

And glad I don’t get it.

Silly Girl said

AppleScruffJunior yelled back 

Silly Girl shouted out loud 
@AppleScruffJunior Which of Roald Dahl’s books is your favourite? 

For me, ’tis a tie between Danny the Champion of the World and The BFG. 

I was talking this over with my friend the other day actually- my favourite is probably The Twits, followed by Matilda and The Witches (also a special shout-out to The Magic Finger which is extremely underrated).
 

Ooh yes, I forgot about that one–I like it too. 

I recently (okay, actually about two months ago) read Esio Trot to Little Girl (it being the only one I deemed age-appropriate), and she enjoyed it extremely… it’s a bit early to say, but I think her training is progressing well. 

Isn’t Little Girl, fiveish? ‘The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me’ would be a good Dahl for her.

She would probably enjoy ‘Revolting Rhymes’ as well as they’re very funny rewrites of classic fairytales:

I used to recite his version of Little Red Riding Hood for auditions and it always got a big laugh:

Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf

As soon as Wolf began to feel
That he would like a decent meal,
He went and knocked on Grandma’s door.
When Grandma opened it, she saw
The sharp white teeth, the horrid grin,
And Wolfie said, “May I come in?”
Poor Grandmamma was terrified,
“He’s going to eat me up!” she cried.

And she was absolutely right.
He ate her up in one big bite.
But Grandmamma was small and tough,
And Wolfie wailed, “That’s not enough!
I haven’t yet begun to feel
That I have had a decent meal!”
He ran around the kitchen yelping,
“I’ve got to have a second helping!”
Then added with a frightful leer,
“I’m therefore going to wait right here
Till Little Miss Red Riding Hood
Comes home from walking in the wood.”
He quickly put on Grandma’s clothes,
(Of course he hadn’t eaten those).
He dressed himself in coat and hat.
He put on shoes, and after that
He even brushed and curled his hair,
Then sat himself in Grandma’s chair.
In came the little girl in red.
She stopped. She stared. And then she said,

“What great big ears you have, Grandma.”
“All the better to hear you with,” the Wolf replied.
“What great big eyes you have, Grandma.”
said Little Red Riding Hood.
“All the better to see you with,” the Wolf replied.

He sat there watching her and smiled.
He thought, I’m going to eat this child.
Compared with her old Grandmamma
She’s going to taste like caviar.

Then Little Red Riding Hood said, “But Grandma,
what a lovely great big furry coat you have on.”

“That’s wrong!” cried Wolf. “Have you forgot
To tell me what BIG TEETH I’ve got?
Ah well, no matter what you say,
I’m going to eat you anyway.”
The small girl smiles. One eyelid flickers.
She whips a pistol from her knickers.
She aims it at the creature’s head
And bang bang bang, she shoots him dead.
A few weeks later, in the wood,
I came across Miss Riding Hood.
But what a change! No cloak of red,
No silly hood upon her head.
She said, “Hello, and do please note
My lovely furry wolfskin coat.”

I think James and the Giant Peach (both book and film) was the only Dahl-work I couldn’t get into, I’d pick it up read the first 50 pages and then put it down again- I still haven’t read it.

Silly Girl said

AppleScruffJunior said

Silly Girl said

I recently (okay, actually about two months ago) read Esio Trot to Little Girl (it being the only one I deemed age-appropriate), and she enjoyed it extremely… it’s a bit early to say, but I think her training is progressing well. 

Isn’t Little Girl, fiveish? ‘The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me’ would be a good Dahl for her.

She’s almost seven, and I almost read her that one, but then I realised I’d have to explain about the gun that the robber waves round and I didn’t feel up to the task. 

Are you avoiding any books with weapons in them?

Enid Blyton’s short-stories are really nice and I enjoyed them a lot when I was about 6. I bought a load of them in a charity shop. 

For more modern ones, I liked Horrid Henry, Felicity Wishes (very girlie and looking back at it, it kind of has stereotypical “gender roles” (one of the buzzwords of the moment) but I liked them when I was 7) and The Adventures of Jeremy James particularly.

A great standalone novel is ‘Ballet Shoes’ by Noel Streatfeild, I still read this nearly every year and I first read it when I was 8ish. It’s about three orphans who join a stage school and how each one reacts to entering the world of drama and dance. 

If she doesn’t get scared very easily, maybe you can try her with the first Harry Potter? I read the first HP when I was around. The only possible scary bits being the duel with the troll and Voldemort’s reveal but I have yet to meet a child who doesn’t like the Harry Potter books.

Necko said
Do you remember what your first post on the Beatles Bible forum was?

No – it was so long ago, I couldn’t even guess what it would have been about.