Billy and the Minpins

Ages 7 to 9, Grades 2 to 4

One of Dahl's beloved stories available for the first time in novel format and newly illustrated by Quentin Blake!

Billy's mum says he must never go out through the garden gate and explore the dark forest beyond. So, one day, he does exactly that! There Billy meets the amazing Minpins, tiny people who live inside the hollow trees.

But the Minpins are in danger. The terrible, galloping Gruncher stalks the forest, and the Minpins are disappearing in their thousands. Can Billy find a way to destroy the hungry beast, once and for all--or will it gobble him up too?

Illustrated by Quentin Blake for the first time, Billy and the Minpins is a new interpretation of Roald Dahl's very last story (originally published in 1991) and marks nearly forty years of their magical collaboration.

About the Author

Roald Dahl (1916–1990) was born in Llandaff, South Wales, and went to Repton School in England. His parents were Norwegian, so holidays were spent in Norway. As he explains in Boy, he turned down the idea of university in favor of a job that would take him to "a wonderful faraway place." In 1933 he joined the Shell Company, which sent him to Mombasa in East Africa. When World War II began in 1939, he became a fighter pilot and in 1942 was made assistant air attaché in Washington, where he started to write short stories. His first major success as a writer for children was in 1964. Thereafter his children's books brought him increasing popularity, and when he died, children mourned the world over, particularly in Britain where he had lived for many years.

Quentin Blake's first book, Patrick, was published in 1968 and was followed by classics such as Mister Magnolia, All Join In, and Clown. He is best known for illustrating Roald Dahl’s books. A patron of the Association of Illustrators, he was awarded the Kate Greenaway Medal in 1980 and the international Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2002, and was the inaugural British Children’s Laureate from 1999 to 2001.