Roald Dahl was one of the most successful writers of children's books ever, both in terms of copies sold and money made. Ten months before his death, the five top-selling children's books in Britain were ones he had written. In 1989 more than 2,300,000 copies of his books were sold in Great Britain alone. His last full-length book, Matilda (1988), broke all records for juvenile sales: 500,000 copies in paperback during the first six months after it appeared. Although most of his literary reputation--and his considerable fortune--derived from the writing of children's books, he did not begin doing so until he was more than forty. Even then, it was not a deliberate move. That he became a writer at all was, by his own account, fortuitous.

After beginning his writing career with stories based on his Royal Air Force (RAF) experiences and with an unsuccessful apocalyptic novel, Some Time Never: A Fable...