Ronald Dahl was quite the fascinating character. He originally didn’t set out to be an author at all. His first published work was a story based on his experiences in World War I. He had a buddy in the newspaper business that was writing a series on pilots from the war, and he asked Dahl to submit his rough outline. When the friend received his story, the friend told Dahl that he needed to switch careers and become an author.

Ronald Dahl loved writing children’s stories the most. He always said that the most effective children’s stories mixed humor with a little bit of terror.

Here are his thoughts on reading: