George's marvelous medicine

Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Knopf includes George's Marvelous Medicine and Fantastic Mr. Fox in its roster of handsomely redesigned hardcover Roald Dahl reissues. In the first novel, George comes up with a potion to improve the mood of his grumpy grandma; the second centers on the efforts of farmers Boggis, Bunce and Bean to catch the titular thief. Both feature Quentin Blake's original illustrations and include an interview with the author. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

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Review by School Library Journal Review

Gr 4-7-George's grandmother is a terribly grumpy, "grizzly old grunion" who just loves to order young George around. George decides he will create a medicine to relieve Grandma of all of her awfulness. Adding everything he can find in the house and barn, including shampoo, shaving cream, animal medicines, shoe polish, and paint, George boils up a pot of medicine that has shocking results when given to Grandma. Utter chaos breaks out when his father determines that they should brew up more of the awful stuff to give to the farmyard animals and George can't quite remember exactly what he used the first time around. Derek Jacobi does a commendable job voicing the quirky characters; Grandma is perfectly grating and nasty. The pacing is just right for the wacky presentation, and Jacobi nicely captures the complete pandemonium as things spiral out of control. This is a quick listen and should appeal to fans of Dahl although it may leave some adults feeling squeamish and grateful for the warning to "not try this at home" found at the beginning of the presentation.-Deanna Romriell, Salt Lake City Public Library, UT (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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Review by Horn Book Review

Dahl's humorous story tells about George, the mischievous medicine maker, and the bewitching effects that his potent potion has on his grumpy grandma and the farmyard animals. This reissue retains Quentin Blake's illustrations and includes an appended interview with the author. From HORN BOOK Spring 2003, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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"A magic medicine it shall be!" George sat himself down at the table in the kitchen. He was shaking a little. Oh, how he hated Grandma! He really hated that horrid old witchy woman. And all of a sudden he had a tremendous urge to do something about her. Something whopping. Something absolutely terrific. A real shocker. A sort of explosion. "I'm not going to be frightened by her," he said softly to himself. But he was frightened. And that's why he wanted suddenly to explode her away. Well...not quite away. But he did want to shake the old woman up a bit. Very well, then. What should it be, this whopping terrific exploding shocker for Grandma? As George sat there pondering this interesting problem, his eye fell upon the bottle of Grandma's brown medicine standing on the sideboard. Rotten stuff it seemed to be...and it didn't do her the slightest bit of good. She was always just as horrid after she'd had it as she'd been before. So-ho! thought George suddenly. I shall make her a new medicine, one that is so strong and so fierce and so fantastic it will either cure her completely or blow off the top of her head. "Here we go, then!" cried George, jumping up from the table. "A magic medicine it shall be!" Excerpted from George's Marvelous Medicine by Roald Dahl All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

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