By many accounts, Roald Dahl wasn't a very nice person, and it wasn't until I re-read his books for my kids that I realized that his writing had such a mean streak, too. He certainly didn't sugarcoat the world for his younger readers and his magical adventures were filled with neglected kids, bullies of all shapes and sizes, nasty grown-ups, macabre humor, and strange comeuppances. His somewhat bleak view of adulthood was matched by Quentin Blake's scribbly illustrations which highlighted...