I’m doing some research for my Dahl site when I came across this list of Twenty Characters You Should Know. There were only a couple that I hadn’t heard of. Who are Hans Brinker, Mafatu, and Mr. Popper? Are they before/after my generation, or did I just somehow miss them?
Bill
October 21, 2001 — 7:27 am
Hans Brinker is before our generation. He was the title character of a children’s novel, I believe from the early part of the century. Roughly the same era as POLLYANNA, I reckon. Something to do with ice skating (I think the subtitle of the novel was “The Silver Skates”).
Kris
October 21, 2001 — 8:21 am
Huh. Never knew that.
Wait… the link is broken! Dude, you shoulda told me. I’ll fix it now.
Kristen
October 22, 2001 — 1:39 pm
I thought you were referring to Roald Dahl characters when I initially read this post…and I was stumped – couldn’t believe that there were any Dahl characters I hadn’t heard of…once I read the link, suddenly all became clear. Except I haven’t heard of Nans Brinker, Mafatu or Mr. Popper either.
Kris
October 22, 2001 — 2:20 pm
I bet I can stump you with a Dahl character! Have you heard of “Labon”? He’s the main character in a very rare Dahl story I managed to find not long ago called “The Upsidedown Mice.” You can read it here.
Ma Snookums e-mailed me and – being as she’s a librarian – she’s heard of all of them except for Mafatu. Which makes me think that he doesn’t deserve a spot on the list. They should replace him with Harry Potter.
Kristen
October 22, 2001 — 4:39 pm
Fantastic! I hadn’t read that story before. It reminds me of The Twits – furniture on the ceiling and all that. Oh, and thanks for the link 🙂