Books For Keeps
  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Articles
  • Past Issues
  • Latest Issue
  • Authors and Artists
  • Latest News
  • Search
  • Menu Menu
November 1, 2013/in I Wish I'd Written /by Richard Hill
This article is featured in BfK 203 November 2013
This article is in the I Wish I'd Written Category

I Wish I’d Written: Mackenzie Crook

Author: Mackenzie Crook

I don’t actually wish that I had written Danny the Champion of the World of course. Then I wouldn’t have had the pleasure of it being read to me when I was a boy. But I would like to come up with a story as beautifully simple and exciting.

I enjoyed Roald Dahl’s books as much as the next child of the 70s, but Danny the Champion of the World spoke to me in ways the other books didn’t.

It’s about the only one of Dahl’s children’s books that is set in the real world.

There is no magic, no talking animals. The BFG makes a brief appearance but only in the form of a bedtime story.

The characters in this book, though they retain some of Dahl’s trademark grotesquery, are more subtly drawn and make me wonder if Dahl wasn’t reading Dickens at the time.

The boy Danny’s relationship with his Dad is really touching, so is the beautiful calmness in which they live together in an old gypsy caravan. But the comfortable home life threatens to come to an end when Danny discovers his Dad is a poacher.

I can still conjure up the feelings of terror and excitement on first hearing the passage when Danny steals a car and drives through the night on country lanes to rescue his Dad.

The fact that Danny indulges in the illegal practices of poaching and car theft and is hailed the ‘Champion of the World’ is extraordinary in a children’s book.

Mackenzie Crook’s new book The Lost Journals of Benjamin Tooth (978-0571295586) is published by Faber & Faber at £9.99.

Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on WhatsApp
  • Share on Pinterest
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share on Reddit
  • Share by Mail
http://booksforkeeps.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/bfklogo.png 0 0 Richard Hill http://booksforkeeps.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/bfklogo.png Richard Hill2013-11-01 09:20:172021-11-29 18:03:03I Wish I’d Written: Mackenzie Crook
Download BfK Issue Bfk 272 May 2025
Skip to an Issue:

Related Articles

I Wish I’d Written: Adeola Sokunbi
Bfk 271 March 2025
I Wish I’d Written: Stewart Foster
Bfk 270 January 2025
I Wish I’d Written: Laurence Anholt
Bfk 268 September 2024
I wish I’d Written: Caroline Pitcher
Bfk 267 July 2024
I Wish I’d Written: Louise Forshaw
Bfk 266 May 2024
I Wish I’d Written: Alex T Smith
Bfk 265 March 2024
I Wish I’d Written: Laura Ellen Anderson
BfK 264 January 2024
I Wish I’d Written: Dave Shelton
BfK 261 July 2023

About Us

Launched in 1980, we’ve reviewed hundreds of new children’s books each year and published articles on every aspect of writing for children.

Read More

Follow Us

Latest News

Choice and reading relevant to their interests = reading for pleasure

June 11, 2025

Ross Montgomery wins the 2025 FCBG Children’s Book Award

June 7, 2025

Michael Rosen and Emily Gravett IBBY UK nominations for Hans Christian Andersen Awards 2026

June 4, 2025

Contact Us

Books for Keeps,
30 Winton Avenue,
London,
N11 2AT

Telephone: 0780 789 3369

ISSN: 0143-909X (this is our International Standard Serial Number).

© Copyright 2025 - Books For Keeps | Proudly Built by Lemongrass Media - Web Design Buckinghamshire
Good Reads: St Paul’s Community College BfK’s Brilliant Bookshops: Tales on Moon Lane
Scroll to top