#67 in Biography & memoir
Boy: Tales of Childhood
- 182
- Pages
- about 3.5 h
- Reading time
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Our view
“Boy: Tales of Childhood” is Roald Dahl telling his own early years with the relish of his fiction, funny even about a school caning. The book runs to the end of his schooldays in 1920s and 1930s Britain and hints at where the children’s stories came from. Some readers find the dwelling on punishments one-sided and at times bleak. It reads aloud well and gives children and adults plenty to talk over.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
Boy: Tales of Childhood is an autobiography written by British writer Roald Dahl. This book describes his life from early childhood until leaving school, focusing on living conditions in Britain in the 1920s and 1930s, the public school system at the time, and how his childhood experiences led him to writing children's books as a career. It concludes with his first job, working for Royal Dutch Shell. His life story continues in the book Going Solo.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.0 across 213 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 59% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Biography & memoir average of 8.1. That is how 8.1 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 8.1 | 40 | 19% |
| Google Books | 8.0 | 33 | 16% |
| Hardcover | 8.0 | 140 | 66% |
Frequently asked
How long is Boy: Tales of Childhood?
It has 182 pages — shorter than 94% of the ranked books in Biography & memoir.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Biography & memoir — with scores between 7.9 and 8.2, closest to this book.
