Book review: George's Marvelous Medicine

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Since there is no way to link to individual reviews on Amazon.com, I wanted to share one here. Overall, the reviews seem innocent enough claiming the book as a "wacky" book that should be obvious enough to children that it was not a story that should be mirrored in real life. However, with the limited instruction time that teachers already have when it comes to teaching literature in school, it would seem a wiser choice could have been made. A choice that could build up family values instead of tearing it down. The common theme in all of the reviews I read was that the grandmother was this "horrible" woman, and that the boy "hated" his grandmother. The only reason I found, in one review, was that the grandmother told the boy stories he didn't like.

In this self centered age, I believe we need to be careful of the message we send our children, especially in public schools. Kids need to hear of a life where families love each other, not hate each other. This one "kid review" really struck my eye and it seems to me that this kid was in middle school possibly. They leave some good points about what message the book sends (the emphasis' are mine.):

George's Marvelous Medicine, March 19, 2006
A Kid's Review
George's Marvelous Medicine
By: Roald Dahl
Reviewed By: S. Kim
Period: 1

George's Marvelous Medicine is about how a little boy who hates his grandmother. When it is time for him to feed his grandmother his medicine, he makes a concoction of different things. Although he was late in giving his grandmother his medicine, his grandmother still took it. You may be thinking, oh where are his parents or his guardian. Well, they left for an errand and left George's grandmother in charge. That was a bad idea, but nobody knew that George was thinking of a way to destroy his grandmother. He gave the medicine to his grandmother and something odd happened. His grandmother turned very long and tall. Her head broke up into the ceiling. She was literally taller then the house!

Then George knew there was something odd about his medicine that he put together. So he decided to try it on a hen, a pig, bullocks, sheep, a gray pony, and finally a goat. One thing that he realized in all animals was that the medicine made it get bigger in size. Obviously his parents were outraged, and needed a place where grandma can sleep, and the only place was the barn, so she slept there for a while. George and his father needed something so that it would make his grandmother smaller. So they came up with another concoction. They gave the new medicine to George's grandmother and when they did she became smaller and smaller. She was so small that you can barely hear her scream or talk. Then some how George's grandmother became smaller and then disappeared into thin air. This was a good thing for George, but at first his mother going crazy. Then after a while she said that her mom disappearing was okay.

The thing that I disliked from this book was how George didn't like his grandmother at all. There is a quote about that talks about George not liking his grandmother and it is, "He really hated that horrid old witchy woman." How can you hate your grandmother so much that you think that she is horrid and somewhat like a witch? I love my grandmother very much and would never hate her even if she did something annoying, mean, and bad. Another thing that I didn't like about the book was that George's mother didn't think it was a big deal that her mother just disappeared. In the last page of the book it says, "Ah well, I suppose it's all or the best, really. She was a bit of a nuisance around the house, wasn't she?" If it were to be my mom that disappeared I would be crying my eyes out, and every time I would think about my mom I would be sad and depressed.

The part I liked in this book was how George tried it on all the animals and they all turned into a different size. The book says, "George gave a spoonful of the medicine to the pig. The pig blew smoke from its nose and jumped about all over the place. Then it grew and grew." The pig grew so big that it was big as an elephant. The pig was already big by itself and now it just got bigger. That was a hilarious part in the book. Another part that was funny was how George mixed up everything to make replace his grandmother's medicine. It says, "A handful of grease- to grease her creaking joints." When George was picking the ingredients he was very smart about picking each one the correct way.

My favorite part of the book was how George had taken so long just to replace his grandmother's medicine. Another thing that I couldn't believe was that his grandmother believed and trusted George for the medicine, even if he was late on giving it to her. I guess she is very gullible. I think George is a very smart boy, but he uses it for evil planning. Maybe that's why it's called his marvelous medicine.