This was a cute little story set in a very not-cute time period.
The illustrations were wonderful; I loved those little stamp-eating creatures with their tiny horns and very Disney-like noses.

Plus, it has a nice little introduction discussing the story itself and the Gremlins animated motion picture that never was.

what a ridiculously long title

not for kids

A cute little story set in WWII.

Its semi-understandable why this never reached fruition as a movie or a 1 hour Walt Disney tv show. It just didn't have the pizazz that a Disney show would have. Plus, it was based on a war that the US was involved in that wasn't very "popular" at the time. It hurts me to say this, since war is never very popular but we didn't have the media back then that we have now, nor the ability to promote the positive spin on things that we do now.
The little gremlins are sketchy and not as attractive as most Disney characters, but they never got the chance to be developed. The style is definately WW2 which is not a drawback, but it will never get a chance to be restored at any point in the future. It's only incarnation is in this book, by Roald Dahl, so this is where they will stay. It is definately worth a look, to see the developement of the Disney style at this povital point in history, to read a story by Dahl, and how the Disney artists have progressed from the original Mikey Mouse, to what is being created now.

We have a copy of this book that was given to Dad when it was published. He was a boy in Yorkshire during the war, and someone had the good sense to give him this book. It's now 70ish years old, has been dropped in at least one bath we know of, made it's way from England to Australia, and is simply a little worse for wear.

But I am so glad it made this journey as it allowed me to read a book that no one else my family that I know of has read. As a kid, that was so incredibly cool!!

And it was a book my Dad loved so much that when I was little, I was showered in Roald Dahl's other books. And I couldn't have asked for much else.

The book is now a Warner Bros. Studios movie saga!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is a very slight entry in the Dahl oeuvre but it is also charming, highly readable and most interesting thanks to its back story. The first of his books to have been published, ‘Gremlins’ draws on Dahl’s experience in the RAF in World War II and the pilots’ myth of gremlins. Optioned for use in an unfinished Disney film, Dahl’s tale merges aviation, childish wonder and a love of protecting home.

The familiar tropes of Dahl’s latter books, including his inventive and playful use of English, the desire for good to prevail and the importance of cooperation and helping each other are all here in ‘Gremlins’. That the gremlins start off as misunderstood miscreants who turn their ways to being helpful is reminiscent of the way that other Dahl characters are redeemed.

Also, like his later books ‘Gremlins’ is embellished by the profuse use of illustrations. These aren’t the work of Quentin Blake, being instead drawings and paintings by Disney artists. They are at times rudimentary but in some instances they are lush and quite gorgeous. It truly is a shame that the movie was never made.

Finally, even though this is a book written during WW2 and published to some extent as a work of propaganda, it’s unreal nature means that it will not be problematic for younger readers. It might be argued that it makes combat flying seem like a slightly dangerous past time, but there are consequences to the battles in the sky and the misdeeds of the gremlins. Dahl does well to balance the concerns of creating childish comedy out of real wartime situations.

In closing ‘Gremlins’ will appeal to fans of Ronald Dahl, to Disney fans and those interested in the popular culture of the Second World War. It is a little dated but I’d like to think children today would still find it appealing.

A collaboration between classic Disney and Roald Dahl? Definitely a missed opportunity!! :(

I really wanted to give it 4 stars... But I have to be honest the story is not that good. The illustrations are very nice but this first story of Dahl is not that good. Is his first one, so we have to take that into consideration, but to be honest for this collaboration between Dahl and Disney brothers I was expecting a little bit more.... or way more. Nevertheless the forward is interesting and the story is funny. Is a nice book for little children, but even for little children it can be way more.

Imaginative debut children's story from the great Roald Dahl, a story that was featured quite prominently in other films and cartoons. No, it's not Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, or any of the other greats, but it's still good and deserves a wider distribution than its seen thus far.

One of the very first things Roald Dahl ever wrote and not his best work but there are glimpses in here of hints at what is to come. This was intended for the movies but it seemed that the Disney studio perhaps felt WW2 films were overdone by the end of the war. Whatever the reasons, the film was never made but the story made it out there for the world to see.

Essentially, gremlins are little people who once lived in trees until their forest was destroyed to make way for a plane factory for the war. For revenge, they decided to plague the planes that came out of that factory and cause havoc in the air for the pilots. In this story, their antics eventually get turned toward good deeds and they make friends with the pilots.

I can't help but see a link here between the gremlins and The Minpins from the Dahl book of the same name. Minpins also were little people that lived in trees, used suction boots to not fall, and had their forest threatened. It makes you wonder if he wrote that book after the gremlin movie fell through.. Whatever, I think the story would have made quite a cute movie and I'm sure someone will have the same idea soon enough, then everyone will hear about Roald Dahl's Gremlins.