George's Marvelous Medicine

June 10, 2002
Knopf includes George's Marvelous Medicine and Fantastic Mr. Fox in its roster of handsomely redesigned hardcover Roald Dahl reissues. In the first novel, George comes up with a potion to improve the mood of his grumpy grandma; the second centers on the efforts of farmers Boggis, Bunce and Bean to catch the titular thief. Both feature Quentin Blake's original illustrations and include an interview with the author.

On Saturday morning George is stuck with looking after his ancient, incredibly mean grandmother. As the old woman alternately insults and scares him, George decides to give her a new kind of medicine. Using every liquid, powder, and pill he can find, George makes a concoction destined to change the family and several hens. Richard E. Grant fluidly changes from a good-natured boy pushed too far to the nastiest old lady imaginable to a hyperactive father with a brogue to a sensible mother wanting only peace and quiet. The written story is fun. The story as performed by Grant is marvelous. J.M.P. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine

January 1, 2014

Gr 4-7-George's grandmother is a terribly grumpy, "grizzly old grunion" who just loves to order young George around. George decides he will create a medicine to relieve Grandma of all of her awfulness. Adding everything he can find in the house and barn, including shampoo, shaving cream, animal medicines, shoe polish, and paint, George boils up a pot of medicine that has shocking results when given to Grandma. Utter chaos breaks out when his father determines that they should brew up more of the awful stuff to give to the farmyard animals and George can't quite remember exactly what he used the first time around. Derek Jacobi does a commendable job voicing the quirky characters; Grandma is perfectly grating and nasty. The pacing is just right for the wacky presentation, and Jacobi nicely captures the complete pandemonium as things spiral out of control. This is a quick listen and should appeal to fans of Dahl although it may leave some adults feeling squeamish and grateful for the warning to "not try this at home" found at the beginning of the presentation.-Deanna Romriell, Salt Lake City Public Library, UT

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