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The Boy who talked with Animals – Roald Dahl

                 I have a fond memory connected to The Boy who talked with Animals. It was Dahl’s first book that I read. I remember it was a summer’s day and I had to go to my school to submit something there. Otherwise it was a day off. I decided to climb on my bicycle and leave for school. My school is around 5 kilometres from where we live, and so it would take me around an hour to commute to there and do the work and return. I decided to listen to a short audiobook along the journey.

                I climbed the bike, plugged in earphones into my ears, played the book and peddled.

                It was an impressionable tale: the story of a man staying in a seaside resort, discovering that a massive tortoise has been washed ashore. Suddenly enters a boy who cannot bear the sight of the men who have gathered around discussing what to do with the tortoise – discussing options that do not include letting the tortoise go back to the seas.

                It’s a magical tale, though a slow one, of a boy who vanishes with the turtle the next day, with reports that he was seen climbing the tortoise’s shell and leaving for the ocean.

                It was such a gripping tale that when I was halfway home, I found that there was still a good fraction of it that was remaining to be listened – so even if it was a hot day, I had to slow down my bicycle so that I could reach to the end – and it was a good ending, rather.

                It’s a short thirty-forty minute read, and yes, I recommend it. Not only a captivating story to be told over a crackling fire, but also an intrinsic, beautiful mystery to wonder over.




Inderpal Singh

A student, a discoverer and a reader.

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