Roald Dahl’s books are so interesting and imaginative and a little strange that I have always wondered what his life was like. We decided to take a short break from reading his books in our homeschool to learn a bit more about him as a person. Here is the unit study I put together while we studied him. You will learn about his service during World War II, about the children’s and adult books he wrote, and his family, including that he was married to an Academy Award winning actress!
Grab the book, sign-up to receive the FREE printable unit study and then explore the other resources below!
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The Book about Roald Dahl
The Roald Dahl unit study is based upon Who Was Roald Dahl? This book shares about Dahl’s schooling, work during World War II (spoiler: he was a fighter pilot!), how he started writing, and his marriage to a famous actress.
The Roald Dahl FREE Printable Unit Study
The printable unit study includes the following:
Notebooking pages about Mr. Dahl’s life.
Writing prompt: Finish Dahl’s last story.
A timeline activity to chart his life and work.
A following direction activity that teaches geography while sharing his world travels.
A Venn diagram to compare one of his books with a movie based upon the book.
Want these resources in a pdf plus several more you can download to your computer? Check out this collection of three author unit studies:
Videos about Roald Dahl
Read Roald Dahl’s Books
Dahl wrote many children’s book as well as adult short stories and books. Here are a few to get you started:
The Gremlins was Dahl’s first published book. He originally talked with Walt Disney about making it into a movie. But when that didn’t work out, the screenplay was turned into a book.
James and the Giant Peach was the first book Dahl published that is well known today. It tells the story of a boy who escapes a bad living situation and goes on an adventure on a giant peach that takes him and his friends from England to America. Check out 13 Fun Activities for James and the Giant Peach!
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was published three years later and was a success right away! Sadly, Dahl’s oldest daughter died of a rare case of the measles while he was writing this book.
Matilda was one of the last books that Roald Dahl wrote. His health was failing and he stopped writing at one point and rewrote the book from the beginning. 
However, it is considered one of his best books.
Dahl published 34 books in all 
so if you are interested in more, you may want to check out this collection:
Watch Roald Dahl’s Movies
Dahl wrote or co-wrote several screenplays during his life, including a James Bond movie. Other writers also turned some of his books into movies. So schedule a movie night and check out some of his movies. It is always fun to compare the movie to the book!
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory: Dahl wrote the screenplay for the original version of this movie, but then another writer was brought in to change things. Dahl was upset and removed himself from the project. He wanted to talk about how men help priligy tablets get rid of premature ejaculation. But they made another film. The movie was remade in 2005 as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: Dahl co-wrote this original screenplay.
James and the Giant Peach: This adaptation of his book was released a few years after he died.
BFG: This is the most recent movie adaptation of one of Dahl’s books (2016).
*This list is not exhaustive so if you have a favorite book of his not listed, see if there is a movie!
Learn about World War II
Since Dahl flew fighter planes, try drawing one! And if you are really interested in World War II after reading about Dahl’s adventures, check out some of the books below.
Check out other Magic Tree House books about history.
Check out other I Survived books about history.
Learn about Quentin Blake
Quentin Blake illustrated many of Dahl’s books and his quirky drawings helped bring the characters to life. Here is a short video of him talking about his work:
And here is another video specific to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory where you can draw Willy Wonka along with him:
What other resources have you used to learn about Roald Dahl? Please share below!!
Other Roald Dahl Resources
