30. The Twits

Title: The Twits
Author: Roald Dahl
Illustrator: Quentin Blake
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Copyright Date: 1980
Number of Pages: 76
Reading Level: 9+
Genre: Comedy/Fantasy

Summary
Mr. and Mrs. Twit are gruesome and ugly people. They have had horrible thoughts for too long and it turned them into disgusting people. The book starts out telling about why beards are so gross and that if you think bad thoughts you’ll turn ugly. The Twits then start to play pranks on each other first Mrs. Twit slips her glass eye into her husband’s mug of beer. Next he gets her back by putting a frog in her bed and claims it’s a Giant Skillywiggler. Mrs. Twit retaliates with worms as spaghetti and doesn’t tell him until he’s eaten every last bite. Mr. Twit then forms a new plan and gradually he starts to add wood to the end of Mrs. Twit’s can and her chair so that finally he says she is shrinking and she starts to believe it. She begs for a way to reverse it before she disappears from the shrinks. He tells her the only way to fix it is to be stretched. Mr. Twit has balloons ready and he tethers her to the ground and starts to add balloons to her arms, neck, wrists and even her hair. Mrs. Twit mentions that he had better make sure she is tied securely to the ground or she will drift off and probably never come back. So Mr. Twit cuts the strings attaching her to the ground. She starts soaring up and thinks to chew the lines with her teeth until she’s coming straight back down where she lands right on top of Mr. Twit. She then beats him with her cane. So after enough of tricks the Twits home is described with a house that has no windows, a garden of thistles, a huge dead tree, a monkey cage, and a shed to one side of the house. Now every Wednesday the Twits have Bird Pie so Mr. Twit goes out and climbs the ladder to the dead tree and spreads glue along the branches so when the birds come they are trapped so he can gather them up and Mrs. Twit can cook the pie. One day a Roly-Poly Bird on vacation came and the monkeys, being able to speak to it, begged him to tell the other birds not to sit on the branches. The Roly-Poly Bird did and they kept doing it until one day the Twits decided to buy guns. While they were out buying their guns the monkeys devised a plan to turn the Twit’s home upside down. They did it using the glue Mr. Twit used to catch the birds. When the Twit’s came home two ravens dropped glue on their heads. The Twits went inside and being so concerned that they were upside down they stood on their heads and both got the shrinks. They kept sinking into themselves until one day there was nothing left.

Recommendation
I’d recommend this to a boy before I would a girl. There are a lot of pictures too to help a child who might not quite enjoy books yet because they can’t imagine what is going on. This might actually encourage more reading.

Problems/Conflict
The Twits don’t change; they stay horrible the whole time and end that way. They die standing on their head. It’s a little creepy.

My Reaction
The pictures are awesome! They go so well with the story and really make the Twits seem gross and horrible. In the beginning I’m so glad they explain what happens to people with big beards and who think bad thoughts all the time. It really explains why the Twits are they way they are. When I was sitting reading this a girl stopped and had to tell me how much she loved this book growing up. She took a couple minutes because she was that enthusiastic.