George's Marvellous Medicine

Last updated

George's Marvellous Medicine
George's Marvellous Medicine first edition.jpg
British first edition hardback
Author Roald Dahl
Illustrator Quentin Blake
LanguageEnglish
Genre Children's novel, fantasy
Publisher Jonathan Cape (UK hardback)
Alfred Knopf (US hardback)
Puffin Books (paperback)
Publication date
10 January 1981
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Media typePrint (Hardback, Paperback)
Pages96

George's Marvellous Medicine (known as George's Marvelous Medicine in the US) is a children's novel written by Roald Dahl and illustrated by Quentin Blake. First published by Jonathan Cape in 1981, it features George Kranky, an eight-year-old boy who concocts his own miracle elixir to replace his tyrannical grandmother's regular prescription medicine.

Contents

Being a medical expert was one of what Dahl called his "dreams of glory": he had enormous respect for doctors and particularly those who pioneered new treatments. He dedicated the book to "doctors everywhere". [1] In 2003, it was listed at number 134 on the BBC's The Big Read poll. [2]

Plot

While eight-year-old George Kranky's parents are out grocery shopping, his elderly maternal grandmother bosses him around and bullies him. She intimidates him by saying that she likes to eat insects and he wonders briefly if she's a witch. As a punishment for her regular abuse, he decides to make a magic medicine to replace her old prescription one. He collects a variety of ingredients from around the family farm including deodorant and shampoo from the bathroom, floor polish from the laundry room, horseradish sauce and gin from the kitchen, animal medicines, engine oil and anti-freeze from the garage, and brown paint to mimic the colour of the original medicine.

After cooking the ingredients in the kitchen, George gives it as medicine to his grandmother, who grows as tall as the house, bursting through the roof. When she doesn't believe it was him who made her do so, he proves it to her by feeding the medicine to one of his father's chickens, which grows ten times its original size. As they return home, Mr. and Mrs. Kranky can't believe their eyes when they see the giant chicken and grandmother. Mr. Kranky grows very excited at the thought of rearing giant animals. He has George feed the medicine to the rest of the farm's animals, causing them to become giants as well. However, his grandmother begins complaining about being ignored and stuck in the house, so Mr. Kranky hires a crane to remove her from it. Her extreme height has her sleeping in the barn for the next few nights.

The following morning, Mr. Kranky is still excited about George's medicine and announces that he and George shall make gallons of it to sell to farmers around the world, which would make his family rich. George attempts to recreate it but is unable to remember all the ingredients. The second version makes a chicken's legs grow extremely long, and the third elongates another one's neck to bizarre proportions. The fourth has the opposite effect of the first and makes animals shrink. George's grandmother, now even more angry because she has to sleep in the barn, storms over and starts complaining loudly that she's once again sick of being ignored. She sees the cup of medicine in George's hand and erroneously mistakes it for tea. Much to his and Mrs. Kranky's horror, and Mr. Kranky's delight, she drinks the entire cup and shrinks so much that she vanishes completely. Mrs. Kranky is initially shocked, confused, and distraught about her mother's sudden and strange disappearance, but soon accepts that she was becoming a nuisance anyway. In the last page, George is left to think about the implications of his actions, feeling as though they had granted him access to the edge of a magic world.

Ingredients

The original ingredients are as follows: [3]

In the cookbook Roald Dahl's Completely Revolting Recipes, collaborated on by Felicity Dahl and chefs Josie Fison and Lori-Ann Newman, George's medicine was adapted into "George's Marvellous Medicine Chicken Soup", the ingredients of which included chicken, onions, mushrooms, leeks, and tarragon.

Influence

Dahl was influenced by Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland , with the "Drink Me" episode inspiring a scene in George's Marvellous Medicine where the tyrannical grandmother drinks a potion concocted by George and is blown up to the size of a farmhouse. [4]

Safety concerns

Though it was a popular book for reading to children in primary school, great care was taken by teachers to warn children to not try and recreate the medicine at home due to the hazardous nature of some of its ingredients. [5] There is a disclaimer warning before the story stating "Warning to Readers: Do not try to make George's Marvellous Medicine yourselves at home. It could be dangerous." [4] [6] In 2020, a team of British researchers performed a toxicological investigation into the potion and all 34 of its ingredients. They reported in the BMJ that if ingested, it would cause vomiting, kidney injury, convulsions, and other severe health problems, including "the most likely clinical outcome", death. "The overall outcome for Grandma would be fatal catastrophic physiological collapse," they wrote. [3]

2023 censorship controversy

Despite Roald Dahl having enjoined his publishers not to "so much as change a single comma in one of my books", in February 2023 Puffin Books, a division of Penguin Books, announced it would be re-writing portions of many of Dahl's children's novels, changing the language to, in the publisher's words, "ensure that it can continue to be enjoyed by all today." [7] The decision was met with sharp criticism from groups and public figures including authors Salman Rushdie [8] [9] and Christopher Paolini, [10] British prime minister Rishi Sunak, [8] [9] Queen Camilla, [8] [11] Kemi Badenoch, [12] PEN America, [8] and Brian Cox. [12] Dahl's publishers in the United States, France, and the Netherlands announced they had declined to incorporate the changes. [8]

In George's Marvellous Medicine, more than fifty changes were made, including removing references to the deadly power of the marvellous medicine, removing the acknowledgement that a footstool is used by a woman because she is short, changing references to "pale brown teeth" to "rotting teeth" and obscuring references to things traditionally associated with housewives (such as using a sink or dressing table) [13] [14]

Original text2023 text [14]
There was a round cardboard carton labeled flea powder for dogs. keep well away from the dog's food, it said, because this powder, if eaten, will make the dog explode.There was a round cardboard carton labeled flea powder for dogs. keep well away from the dog's food, it said, because this powder, if eaten, will make the dog hop like a flea.

Television version

Rik Mayall read the book for the BBC's Jackanory children's programme in 1986, in a widely acclaimed performance.

Audio versions

The book has been recorded several times, including:

Stage adaptation

The actor and writer David Wood adapted the book for the stage; it was produced by the Rose Theatre Kingston and Curve Leicester, and toured the UK in 2017 and 2018. [27]

Editions

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roald Dahl</span> British writer and poet (1916–1990)

Roald Dahl was a British author of popular children's literature and short stories, a poet, screenwriter and a wartime fighter ace. His books have sold more than 300 million copies worldwide. He has been called "one of the greatest storytellers for children of the 20th century".

<i>Charlie and the Chocolate Factory</i> 1964 childrens novel by Roald Dahl

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a 1964 children's novel by British author Roald Dahl. The story features the adventures of young Charlie Bucket inside the chocolate factory of eccentric chocolatier Willy Wonka.

Sophie Dahl is an English author and former fashion model. Her first novel, The Man with the Dancing Eyes, was published in 2003 followed by Playing With the Grown-ups in 2007. In 2009, she wrote Miss Dahl's Voluptuous Delights, a cookery book which formed the basis for a six-part BBC Two series named The Delicious Miss Dahl. In 2011, she published her second cookery book From Season to Season. Her first children's book, Madame Badobedah, was released in 2019. She is the daughter of Tessa Dahl and Julian Holloway and the granddaughter of author Roald Dahl, actress Patricia Neal, and actor Stanley Holloway.

<i>The BFG</i> 1982 childrens novel by Roald Dahl

The BFG is a 1982 children's novel by British author Roald Dahl. It is an expansion of a short story from Dahl's 1975 novel Danny, the Champion of the World. The book is dedicated to Dahl's oldest daughter, Olivia, who had died of measles encephalitis at the age of seven in 1962.

<i>Matilda</i> (novel) 1988 childrens novel by Roald Dahl

Matilda is a 1988 children's novel by British author Roald Dahl. It was published by Jonathan Cape. The story features Matilda Wormwood, a precocious child with an uncaring mother and father, and her time in a school run by the tyrannical headmistress Miss Trunchbull.

<i>The Witches</i> (novel) 1983 childrens book by Roald Dahl

The Witches is a 1983 children's novel by British author Roald Dahl. A dark fantasy, the story is set partly in Norway and partly in England, and features the experiences of a young English boy and his Norwegian grandmother in a world where child-hating societies of witches secretly exist in every country. The witches are ruled by the vicious and powerful Grand High Witch, who arrives in England to organise her plan to turn all of the children there into mice.

<i>James and the Giant Peach</i> 1961 childrens novel by Roald Dahl

James and the Giant Peach is a children's novel written in 1961 by British author Roald Dahl. The first edition, published by Alfred Knopf, featured illustrations by Nancy Ekholm Burkert. There have been re-illustrated versions of it over the years, done by Michael Simeon, Emma Chichester Clark, Lane Smith and Quentin Blake. It was adapted into a film of the same name in 1996 which was directed by Henry Selick, and a musical in 2010.

<i>The Magic Finger</i> 1966 childrens book by Roald Dahl

The Magic Finger is a 1966 children's story by British author Roald Dahl. First published in the United States by Harper & Row with illustrations by William Pène du Bois, Allen & Unwin published the first U.K. edition in 1968. Later editions have been illustrated by Pat Marriott, Tony Ross, and Quentin Blake.

<i>The Twits</i> 1980 childrens novel by Roald Dahl

The Twits is a 1980 children's novel by British author Roald Dahl. It was first published by Jonathan Cape. The story features The Twits, a spiteful, idle, unkempt couple who continuously play nasty practical jokes on each other to amuse themselves, and exercise their devious wickedness on their pet monkeys.

<i>Esio Trot</i> 1990 childrens novel by Roald Dahl

Esio Trot is a 1990 children's novel by British author Roald Dahl. The title is an anadrome of "tortoise". It was the last of Dahl's books to be published in his lifetime; he died just two months later.

<i>Danny, the Champion of the World</i> 1975 childrens novel by Roald Dahl

Danny, the Champion of the World is a 1975 children's novel by British author Roald Dahl. The plot centres on Danny, a young English boy, and his father, William. They live in a Gypsy caravan, fix cars for a living in their mechanic shop and partake in poaching pheasants. It was first published on February 14, 1975, in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. and in the United Kingdom by Jonathan Cape.

Puffin Books is a longstanding children's imprint of the British publishers Penguin Books. Since the 1960s, it has been among the largest publishers of children's books in the UK and much of the English-speaking world. The imprint now belongs to Penguin Random House, a subsidiary of the German media conglomerate Bertelsmann.

<i>The Enormous Crocodile</i> 1978 picture book by Roald Dahl

The Enormous Crocodile is a British children's story, written by British author Roald Dahl and illustrated by Quentin Blake. A picture book written for younger readers than Dahl's other works, the story tells of a hungry crocodile who aims to eat human children via using various, not-quite-impenetrable disguises.

<i>Fantastic Mr Fox</i> 1970 childrens novel by Roald Dahl

Fantastic Mr Fox is a children's novel written by British author Roald Dahl. It was published in 1970, by George Allen & Unwin in the UK and Alfred A. Knopf in the U.S., with illustrations by Donald Chaffin. The first Puffin paperback, first issued in 1974, featured illustrations by Jill Bennett. Later editions have featured illustrations by Tony Ross (1988) and Quentin Blake (1996). The story is about Mr Fox and how he outwits his farmer neighbours to steal their food from right under their noses.

David Bernard Wood OBE is an English actor, author, composer, director, magician and producer. The Times called him "the National Children's Dramatist". In 1979, he joined Bernard Cribbins, Maurice Denham, and Jan Francis in a reading of The Hobbit for the BBC Television show Jackanory.

<i>Melanies Marvelous Measles</i> Anti-vaccine book with dangerous message that contracting the measles is beneficial

Melanie's Marvelous Measles is a self-published children's book written by Australian author and anti-vaccine activist Stephanie Messenger. Through its story, the book claims, contrary to scientific data, that contracting measles is beneficial to health, and that vaccines are ineffective.

<i>The Witches</i> (2020 film) 2020 film by Robert Zemeckis

The Witches, is a 2020 dark fantasy comedy horror film co-produced and directed by Robert Zemeckis, who co-wrote the screenplay with Kenya Barris and Guillermo del Toro, based on the 1983 novel The Witches by Roald Dahl. It is the second film adaptation of the novel, following The Witches (1990). The film stars Anne Hathaway, Octavia Spencer, Stanley Tucci, Kristin Chenoweth, and Jahzir Bruno.

<i>Matilda the Musical</i> (film) 2022 film by Matthew Warchus

Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical, or simply Matilda the Musical, or Matilda, is a 2022 fantasy musical film directed by Matthew Warchus from a screenplay by Dennis Kelly, based on the stage musical of the same name by Tim Minchin and Kelly, which in turn was based on the 1988 novel Matilda by Roald Dahl. It is the second film adaptation of the novel, following Matilda (1996). The film stars Alisha Weir as the title character, alongside Lashana Lynch, Stephen Graham, Andrea Riseborough, Sindhu Vee, and Emma Thompson. In the plot, Matilda Wormwood (Weir), who is neglected and mistreated by her parents, develops psychokinetic abilities to deal with Miss Trunchbull (Thompson), the ruthless and cruel headmistress of Crunchem Hall School.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Measles: A Dangerous Illness</span> 1986 open letter by Roald Dahl

"Measles: A Dangerous Illness" is an open letter written by the children's writer Roald Dahl in 1986 in response to ongoing cases of measles in the United Kingdom at that time despite the introduction of an effective measles vaccine in 1968.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roald Dahl revision controversy</span> Controversy over books by Roald Dahl

Puffin Books, the children's imprint of the British publisher Penguin Books, expurgated various works by British author Roald Dahl in 2023, sparking controversy.

References

  1. ↑ "Roald Dahl on the death of his daughter". No. 3 February 2015. The Telegraph.
  2. ↑ "The Big Read Top 100". BBC. April 2003. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  3. 1 2 Johnson, Graham; Davies, Patrick (2020). "Toxicological analysis of George's marvellous medicine: Literature review". BMJ. 371: m4467. doi:10.1136/bmj.m4467. PMC   7726247 . PMID   33303487.
  4. 1 2 "World Book Day 2019: Roald Dahl's 10 best children's books, from Matilda to The Twits". The Independent. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  5. ↑ Ouellette, Jennifer (17 December 2020). "Don't try this at home: George's Marvelous Medicine is quite toxic" . Retrieved 23 December 2020.
  6. ↑ Johnson G, Davies P (2020). "Toxicological analysis of George's marvellous medicine: literature review". BMJ. 371: m4467. doi: 10.1136/bmj.m4467 . PMC   7726247 . PMID   33303487.
  7. ↑ Sawer, Patrick (25 February 2023). "Roald Dahl warned 'politically correct' publishers – 'change one word and deal with my crocodile'". The Telegraph. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Blair, Elizabeth (24 February 2023). "Roald Dahl's publisher responds to backlash by keeping 'classic' texts in print". NPR. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
  9. 1 2 Dellatto, Marisa (20 February 2023). "Roald Dahl Books Get New Edits—And Critics Cry Censorship: The Controversy Surrounding 'Charlie And The Chocolate Factory' And More" . Forbes . Jersey City, New Jersey, USA. ISSN   0015-6914. Archived from the original on 28 February 2023. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
  10. ↑ Murdock, Hannah (21 February 2023). "Authors react to 'absurd' changes to Roald Dahl's children's books to make them less offensive". Deseret News. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
  11. ↑ Lawless, Jill (24 February 2023). "Penguin to publish 'classic' Roald Dahl books after backlash". Associated Press . New York City, NY, USA. Archived from the original on 28 February 2023.
  12. 1 2 Honeycombe-Foster, Matt; Blanchard, Jack (21 February 2023). "UK's Badenoch slams 'problematic' rewrites of classic Roald Dahl books". Politico . Arlington County, Virginia, USA: Axel Springer SE. Archived from the original on 28 February 2023. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
  13. ↑ Kirka, Danica. "Critics reject changes to Roald Dahl books as censorship". abc NEWS. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
  14. 1 2 Cumming, Ed; Buchanan, Abigail; Holl-Allen, Genevieve; Smith, Benedict (24 February 2023). "The Writing of Roald Dahl". The Telegraph. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
  15. ↑ "George's Marvellous Medicine - A Rainbow Theatre Audioplay by Roald Dahl". YouTube . 22 January 2024.
  16. ↑ "Roald Dahl - George's Marvelous Medicine read by Richard Griffiths". Discogs.com. 1987.
  17. ↑ "Roald Dahl - George's Marvelous Medicine read by June Whitfield". Discogs.com. 5 May 2020.
  18. ↑ "A Fully Dramatized Recording: George's Marvellous Medicine". YouTube . 7 March 2021.
  19. ↑ "George's Marvellous Medicine (2005)". YouTube . 13 February 2021.
  20. ↑ "Roald Dahl - George's Marvelous Medicine dramatised by Mellie Buse". Discogs.com.
  21. ↑ George's Marvellous Medicine by Roald Dahl, Nigel Lambert, Steven Pacey and Susan Jameson. ASIN   0141805951.
  22. ↑ "Mellie Buse". Gemma Hirst Associates. Retrieved 13 July 2024.
  23. ↑ "Mellie Buse - COMPANY DIRECTOR - ADASTRA DEVELOPMENT LTD". LinkedIn. Retrieved 13 July 2024.
  24. ↑ "Roald Dahl, Richard E, Grant - George's Marvelous Medicine". Discogs.com. 2007.
  25. ↑ George's Marvelous Medicine (Dahl Audio) Audio CD - read by Derek Jacobi. ISBN   0141370335.
  26. ↑ "George's Marvelous Medicine by Roald Dahl - narrated by Romesh Ranganathan". Audible.co.uk.
  27. ↑ "George's Marvellous Medicine". Curve Leicester. 9 December 2017. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.