The Vicar of Nibbleswicke

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The Reverend Lee is suffering from a rare and acutely embarrassing condition- Back-to-Front Dyslexia. It affects only his speech, and he doesn't realize he's doing it, but the parishioners of Nibbleswicke are shocked and confused by his seemingly outrageous comments. At last a cure is found and the mild-mannered vicar can resume normal service. Or at least as normal as is possible for a man who must walk backwards to be sure of talking forwards!

A highly comic tale in the best Dahl tradition of craziness, written for the benefit of the Dyslexia Institute.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

Imagine what would happen if a nervous young parson were re-afflicted with a peculiar strain of his childhood dyslexia, so that he unknowingly pronounced backwards only the most significant word in every sentence. In the fiendish hands of Roald Dahl, the parishioners must not only suffer the offense of praising Dog, but when the unsuspecting vicar attempts to compliment a group of little old ladies on the fact that each of them knits , his actual words incite chaos. Written for the benefit of the Dyslexia Institute in London, this slight book employs a host of jocular (though sometimes vulgar) malaprops to accentuate the beleaguered parson's condition. Blake's daffy illustrations have long captured the outrageous humor of Dahl's text, and this collaboration proves no exception. Of special interest is the illustrator's touching tribute at the end of the book, both to the late author's talent and to his ``passionate belief in the importance of reading,'' which inspired this, his last book. Ages 8-up. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

School Library Journal Review

Gr 3-5-- Rev. Robert Lee develops a peculiar form of dyslexia and occasionally words come out of his mouth backwards. (For example, his name becomes ``eel.'') To cure this problem, he walks backwards. While the story has moments of typical Dahl humor, it loses momentum by unfortunately--and unnecessarily--resorting to bathroom humor. He exhorts women at their First Communion to pis (``sip'') along the rail, and requests that parishioners not krap (``park'') along the front of the church. Such references reduce what starts out as a very clever, amusing book to something more on a par with 101 Tasteless Jokes. Blake's illustrations are, as always, full of life and humor, and his depictions of the parishioners and townspeople are without equal. It's unfortunate that Dahl seems to have chosen the easy way out to create his humor. --Christine A. Moesch, Buffalo and Erie County Public Library, Buffalo, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Booklist Review

Gr. 4-6. This is Dahl in his bathroom mode, wallowing in rude word reversals. The shy vicar suffers from "Back-to-Front Dyslexia," which makes him speak important words backwards--not only words like god and tortoise, but also sip and park ("It is not only unsightly, but it is also dangerous" if you all do it at the same time all along the side of the road). Blake's small watercolor-and-line cartoons are wonderfully polite, delighting in the eccentric vicar and his shocked parishioners. In an afterword, Blake pays tribute to Dahl (who died in 1990), remembers their work together, and points out that they did this book for the benefit of the Dyslexia Institute. It's a worthy cause. Many kids will love the jokes. Many adults won't. You decide. ~--Hazel Rochman

Horn Book Review

The unfortunate vicar of Nibbleswicke suffers unknowingly from a type of dyslexia which makes him say words backwards. This causes considerable consternation in his flock when he says such things as 'dog' for 'God' and, even worse, some very vulgar reversals. This juvenile notion serves merely as a vehicle for Dahl's lowest humor, disguised as a book written for the benefit of the Dyslexia Institute. From HORN BOOK 1992, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus Book Review

The nervous new vicar's youthful dyslexia suddenly resurfaces in an odd form: Certain words come out of his mouth reversed. Thus, advising a group of first communicants on how to accept the wine, he cries, ``You must never plug it...What you must do is pis. Pis gently.'' After a stream of similar incidents, the vicar sees a doctor who reassures him (``Back-to- Front Dyslexia. It is very common among tortoises...'') and prescribes a simple cure: walk backwards. And so the vicar does, through a long and happy career. Dahl wrote this story (and auctioned the rights) to benefit the Dyslexia Institute; the book is slim but handsomely designed, with a series of cheery pictorial vignettes and a brief tribute to the late author from his frequent collaborator, one of Britain's leading comic illustrators. Just a dram of Dahl, but vintage. (Fiction. 9-12 & adult)