Book Reviews: The Magic Finger (spoilers)

As I've mentioned before, I like to reread my old childhood books when I go home, and recently I've been working my way through the Roald Dahls. The latest one I've read is The Magic Finger. It's a very short one, and I got through it in one sitting, but it certainly packs a punch. It's about a little girl with a magic finger that tingles when she gets angry and makes weird and wonderful magical things happen. She uses this magic finger to teach her hunting-mad neighbours not to hunt, by forcing them to swap places with a family of ducks and learn some empathy.

As I said, it's small but mighty. It's very well written, and the anti-hunting message comes through loud and clear. The difference between good and evil is also much less clear-cut than in a lot of other children's books. Even though the family of hunters is clearly the villains, as you follow them on their journey as ducks you can't help sympathising with them and how lost, confused and uncomfortable they feel. Their redemption is very genuine and you're left feeling that they really have changed and are on the right side now. Not bad for something only a few dozen pages long!