Revolting rhymes
1982
- fairy tales
- adaptations
- humorous poetry
- children's poetry, english
- narrative poetry
- english poetry
- adaptation
- stories in rhyme
- contes
- ouvrages pour la jeunesse
The story
Presents humorous retellings of six well-known fairy tales featuring surprise endings in place of the traditional happily-ever-after.
What it’s like
Bouncy, mischievous couplets with a wicked grin: a cheerfully subversive collection that reads like a storyteller leaning in to whisper the rude bits. Dahl's rhymes are brisk and tightly metred, full of comic asides, deadpan narration and sly slang, and each short poem lands on a sharp, punchy final line that flips the expected ending. The sensory world is cosy and storybook-familiar (cottages, woods, kitchens, palaces) rendered with cartoonish exaggeration, while the illustrations and tone keep things light rather than frightening. Violence is present but comic and quick, with grisly outcomes played for laughs rather than dwelt upon, so the darkness stays mild and playful. The pacing is brisk; each poem is only a few pages, so it suits a dip-in read on a rainy afternoon, a bedtime story with older children, or a quick laugh on a long journey. It is for readers who enjoy irreverent wit, familiar fairy-tale rhythms turned on their heads, and the pleasure of a good rhyme with a bad-taste twist.
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