By Ronald Dahl
Illustrated by Quentin Blake
Scholastic, 1981
Genre
Low Fantasy
Awards
None Known
Review
Prolific children's fiction writer Ronald Dahl shows children yet again that magic may be more than a thing in their imaginations. When left alone with his grouch grandmother, George sets out to make her a medicine that will help her loosen up a bit (he reasons she needs a new medicine since the one she had been taking at length hasn't helped her). Making a sickening concoction of random liquids and pills found in his home, including paint, hairspray, perfume, and animal medicine, George gives his grandmother the medicine and watches her reaction amused and slightly worried. When his parents arrive home, his mother is worried about the grandmother (her mother), but the father just encourages George to make more of his concoction, seeing possible financial gain from how it effects the farm animals. This funny, yet slightly disturbing story also has sketched illustrations to accompany the text, making the effects of the potion unmistakable.
Opinion
Compared to some of Dahl's previous work, like BFG, I found this book boring and was disturbed that when the grandmother simply shrunk until she disappeared that not even her daughter gave it more than a second thought. As entertaining as the idea is of mixing household items to make potentially attitude-changing and money-making substances, I think it may be important for parents to address the idea that none of these chemicals being used in the book should be mixed or taken like this in real life.
Ideas
Since everything George uses in his mixture seems to have some kind of reasoning behind it, as small as it may be, it might be a fun project to have young readers make their own "potion", thinking of things they would mix together and what the desired effects would be.
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