The Magic Finger

A Roald Dahl Book for Kids

Jul 24, 2008 Elizabeth Yetter

The Magic Finger is one of Roald Dahl's lesser-known children's stories.

Roald Dahl is the author of many popular children’s books, such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach. The Magic Finger, however, is not so well known but it is still a classic story that stays with the reader well into adulthood.

The Girl Next Door

Unlike many of Roald Dahl’s works, The Magic Finger’s main character is a girl that lives next door to the Gregg family.

This girl is no ordinary girl. She has a way of making things happen. All she needs to do is see something that makes her angry and she begins to see red. Then she points her finger and wham! Something happens.

The Gregg Family

The Gregg’s are a seemingly average family. There’s Mr. and Mrs. Gregg, and their two sons, Phillip and William.

The Gregg’s love to hunt and Mr. Gregg and his sons often go out to shoot whatever animal is in season.

Hunting makes the girl next door upset. She tries to explain to the family why they shouldn’t go out and kill animals, but none of them listen to her.

The Magic Finger

One particular day, the girl next door sees Mr. Gregg and his two sons leave the forest carrying a young, dead deer. The girl becomes so angry that she begins to see red and, before she can stop herself, she points her magic finger at them.

The Gregg boys just laughed at her and, later on, went duck hunting with their father. They shot 16 birds and then headed for home.

Switching Places

Once the girl next door points her magic finger at someone there’s no way to take it back. Something is bound to happen, and it did.

The next morning, Mr. Gregg climbs out of bed and discovers that he’s shrunk! What’s worse is that his arms have turned into wing.

In a panic, Mr. Gregg wakes his wife, but she has also shrunk and grown wings.

Next, Phillip and William fly into the parent’s bedroom. It seems as though the Gregg family was now a family of birds!

The family tests out their new wings and fly out the bedroom window and into the yard. As they begin to enjoy their new ability, they look down at their home in time to see four human-size ducks walking into their house.

Now What?

The Magic Finger teaches kids to look at both sides of every issue. While hunting is a way for the Gregg family to get their food, they hunted in excess, killing every animal in their path. It takes the girl next door to point her magic finger and show the Greggs what it is like to live in the wild and be hunted.

The copyright of the article The Magic Finger in Children’s Books is owned by Elizabeth Yetter. Permission to republish The Magic Finger in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

The Magic Finger