it is interesting to see how much the acceptable content of children's books has change in the last 50 years.

The introductory essay establishes the material nicely, and the bones of what would have been an interesting story are visible. Perhaps soon someone not afeared of the Disney legal machine will make it a reality and not just mock-up art and outlines.

By far the worst work I've seen of Dahl's. I usually love his stories.

We all love Roald Dahl. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, the Witches, and more. So when I decided to research his first book I found this treasure. The art is all Disney. Not quite matching the author's description, but pretty anyway.
So, apparently Dahl and his Air Force buddies made up stories about gremlins that damaged their planes during WWII causing them to crash. The execs at Disney asked him to sell them the stories so they could animate them. They weren't desperately popular, but I do remember seeing them on the Wonderful World of Disney when I was a kid. Every Sunday night we would gather around the tv and watch Disney movies. A lot of them had the Mousketeers as stars. But they always had cartoons before the movie began. At the drive-ins, at the theaters, Disney always had cartoons before their movies. Somewhere in the vast hours I spent watching tv as a kid, I saw these characters. (you just think that kids spend more time on the screen now than we did as kids)

This is a cute book with wonderful art and a great beginning of an amazing author.

Good introduction by Leonard Maltin. This is not only first Dahl's book but also first book that Bill Justice illustrated.

The Gremlins are mischievous small creatures that lived in the forest and had funny boots on their funny feet, and with these boots- and this funniest of all- they could walk upside down under the branches of the trees. Just like The Minpins

I had a hell of a time tracking down a copy of The Gremlins to read but I'm super glad I did. It's a fun story, though very unlike Dahl's other, better known children's stories. Reading about the history of the book was also interesting!

Most people know about a least one book (or film based on a book) by Roald Dahl but you may not have heard of his very first book for children, The Gremlins. It was written in 1942 when Roald Dahl was still a pilot in the R.A.F and was published in 1943. It was supposed to be made into a Walt Disney film but that never happened. Disney did decide to still publish the book but only made 50,000 copies. it is very rare to find an original copy. The copy I read was a PDF that my Mum found on the internet.

The book is about a group of small creatures (The Gremlins) who cause mechanical problems on Royal Air Force airplanes during World War II. After discovering that the n creatures really exist, the RAF pilots must find a way to make friends with the creatures so that they can keep their airplanes in one piece and survive in air battles.I really enjoyed this book. It was great to discover a new story by this author that I never knew existed. The illustrations are really, really good. So much detail. The pictures are hard drawn and coloured so it reminded me of old Disney films. If you enjoy Roald Dahl stories, please find this and read it.

I liked the sketches

The Gremlins was the first publication of Dahl who went on to write many excellent children's books including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. This story could use some polish but is an entertaining tale developed from perhaps more general stories or ideas in the RAF. The illustrations are very nice. The book includes the character Fifinella from which the mascot for the WASPS was taken.

Esta es la primera historia publicada de Roal Dahl y la que le abrió muchas puertas pues fue publicada por Walt Disney. Realmente me costo bastante encontrarla y tenía muchas expectativas y al leer esta historia quedaron más que satisfechas. Esta historia no solo es súper tierna y llena de imaginación, además tiene un mensaje súper importante (según mi opinión) sobre la forma de ver y afrontar los problemas y además sobre el respeto hacia otras personas o seres vivos.

Gremlins (the book) is a funny book. I like the pictures. I like the characters. I like the story.

2½/5