The Magic Finger

Rating:
Summary: Do you want a magic finger ?
Review: Although this story is short, but it is interesting and attractive enough.

This story is about a girl who felt angry with the Gregg family - who liked hunting very much. Once the family returned dome with a deer, the girl couldn't control her anger and put her Magic Finger on the family. The next morning, the Gregg family foung that they have wings instead of hands. They were chased away by a wild duck family which had human hands. The Gregg family surivied theirself by building nest, and found food theirself.

This book tells us hunting is not a good activity, if excess hunting, this could distroy the ecosystem and make the world become unbalance. So I think parents should read this book to their children and explain the meaning to them.

After read this book, I was wondering what would the world be like if I had a Magic Finger. I think I would turn those bad people into bugs so that they can't do bad things anymore. So do you want a magic finger ?

Rating:
Summary: Do you want a magic finger ?
Review: Although this story is short, but it is interesting and attractive enough.

This story is about a girl who felt angry with the Gregg family - who liked hunting very much. Once the family returned dome with a deer, the girl couldn't control her anger and put her Magic Finger on the family. The next morning, the Gregg family foung that they have wings instead of hands. They were chased away by a wild duck family which had human hands. The Gregg family surivied theirself by building nest, and found food theirself.

This book tells us hunting is not a good activity, if excess hunting, this could distroy the ecosystem and make the world become unbalance. So I think parents should read this book to their children and explain the meaning to them.

After read this book, I was wondering what would the world be like if I had a Magic Finger. I think I would turn those bad people into bugs so that they can't do bad things anymore. So do you want a magic finger ?

Rating:
Summary: Crazy Happening in The Magic Finger
Review: How would you like it, if you woke up and had wings? That's what happened to the Gregg family, when a girl with the magic finger got mad at them. This girl gets very angry at people and the magic in her finger happens to change their lives in funny ways. This is a great book for kids, because the magic that her finger makes creates some shocking situations. Read The Magic Finger, by Roald Dahl, because it is funny, surprising, and you'll never want to put it down.

Rating:
Summary: Fun, entertaining, and teaches you a lesson.
Review: I am 11 years old and in 5th grade. The author "Roald Dahl" added lots of details in this story so that I felt like I was in the story. For example the author wrote using the five senses. "The Gregg family felt the wind blowing." This book is not true, but this book does teach a lesson. It teaches not to shoot at any animals or other creatures, because shooting an animal is the same as shooting a person. Humans are animals too. You will learn lessons from the bad things that you do. I like this story book. What I like about this story book is that a little girl gets to turn people into animals and animals to be just like people. I didn't like it when the sixteen ducks got shot and died. Only four ducks were still alive. Can you belive only four ducks out of twenty ducks lived? I don't think that kids under five years old should read this book because there are animals that are dying. Thinking of animals, sometimes I ask myself why do birds eat worms? I think they would taste bad by the looks of them. I would want to tell you more of this story, but I won't so that you can read it and enjoy it for yourself and family.

Rating:
Summary: Master Storyteller!
Review: Roald Dahl knows how children think. He knows that children's fantasies are often playfully violent, and he taps into those fantasies to create this other world where anything can happen and usually does. Kids love his books, and this is a great place to jump into his weird world. Your kids will love it. Before long they'll be reading it to themselves.

Rating:
Summary: Fun, entertaining, and teaches you a lesson.
Review: The author "Roald Dahl" added lots of details in this story so that I felt like I was in the story. For example the author wrote using the five senses. "The Gregg family felt the wind blowing." This book is not true, but this book does teach a lesson. It teaches not to shoot at any animals or other creatures, because shooting an animal is the same as shooting a person. Humans are animals too. You will learn lessons from the bad things that you do. I like this story book. What I like about this story book is that a little girl gets to turn people into animals and animals to be just like people. I didn't like it when the sixteen ducks got shot and died. Only four ducks were still alive. Can you belive only four ducks out of twenty ducks lived? I don't think that kids under five years old should read this book because there are animals that are dying. Thinking of animals, sometimes I ask myself why do birds eat worms? I think they would taste bad by the looks of them. I would want to tell you more of this story, but I won't so that you can read it and enjoy it for yourself and family.

Rating:
Summary: The finger that teaches lessons
Review: The book is about a little girl who , when she gets angry , and points her finger at someone-powers are unleashed which really teaches the target a lesson.

Once the schoolteacher is really nasty to her, and the teacher begins to turn into a cat. This carries with it a good message for children and teachers, as sometimes teachers do not realize the hurt they can cause children.

As the little girl hates hunting, because of it's cruelty, she points her finger at her friends who have gone hunting, and they are taught a real lesson, that changes their attitude to animals, particularly birds forever.

The lovely illustrations bring this book to life.

A child can really relate to these stories, and become captivated by them, and they have enough wit to provide pleasant reading for adults.


Rating:
Summary: The Magic Finger
Review: The magic finger is the thought provoking story of a little girl who could cast a curse on anyone she was angry with. The one thing that made her maddest of all was shooting animals just for the fun of it. And so when the Gregg family on the next farm went out shooting ducks, she turned their arms to wings and the ducks wings to arms. It was only after a tremendous ordeal, including being shot at by the ducks that the Greggs promised never to shoot another animal as long as they live. They even changed their names to the Egg family to remind them of their promise. The story is told from the perspective of a small eight year old girl, with magic finger, and uses the grammar, and turn of phrase that such a little girl might use, particularly near the beginning. The story therefore alternates between the first and third person, although for the bulk of the text it is indistinguishable from a standard narrative. This book has a strong underlying theme considering it's young audience, first solo reading. I would describe it as the seven year old's version of a political novel such as 1984. The theme, being animal rights, is obviously more accessible and understandable to a younger mind, but it is dealt with in an imaginative and thought provoking way. The argument which the author uses is one of empathy, basically running along the lines of "how would you like it if you were a fox, and someone started shooting at you?!" By reversing the roles of the ducks and humans, he makes the reader see the day to day life of a bird as far more taxing than they might otherwise have done, and forces them to view the ducks as more than just things. This is woven into a common childhood fantasy of having magic powers, to be used against those who are being unjust. Many children, I feel, particularly younger readers, would take the story as just a nonsensical childhood fantasy. The book's deeper meaning would be more readily apparent to a slightly older reader, or one with a special interest in the topic of animal rights.

Rating:
Summary: This is the worst R.D book I've ever read!
Review: This book has a lot going for it, but I wouldn't recommend it for every child.

A very positive point for this book, is that it's written at about a second-grade level. Equivalent to the "Step 2" or "Level 2" books. It's actually got quite a story, but it's written easily enough for beginning readers to enjoy, which is really great and sometimes hard to find.

I thought the illustrations were wonderful and whimsical.

The story itself might be a little tough for an already extremely empathetic child to read. Since it depicts the feelings of ducks who are being hunted, this might be a sensitive issue for some. Introduce this book to the child of a hunting family, or even just a family of typical meat-eaters and you might find yourself with an angry little vegetarian on your hands! (Especially interesting, when contrasted against Dahl's "Danny, The Champion of the World" - a hunter's hero!)

My children enjoyed this story (and still eat their burgers), but I think for some children, it might raise some ethical problems. Which isn't always a bad thing, of course! But parents beware! This story might lead to a domestic revolt.

Of course, any family of vegetarians won't have a problem with this story at all. And, as another reviewer mentioned, this book can certainly offer some good "empathy" discussions with children.

Rating:
Summary: A serious lesson, but with humor
Review: This story is long enough to amuse an adult ,short enough to catch the attention span of 7-9 years old. Brilliantly written,it's about a nameless girl who hates hunting and succeeds in stopping her hunting-loving neighbors from ever shooting animals and birds again with the help of her magic finger which does very funny and strange things to anybody who crosses her. The story is short,so writing more details about it will only give it away spoiling the fun for first-time readers.One thing is for sure: kids and parents will enjoy reading this story together and there is a lesson to be learned by knowing how it feels to be in the other side's shoes.
Lamberd Beano
Third Grader