The Twits facts for kids
second edition
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| Author | Roald Dahl |
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| Illustrator | Quentin Blake |
| Cover artist | Quentin Blake |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children's novel |
| Publisher | Jonathan Cape (London) |
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Publication date
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1980 |
| Media type | Print (hardback, paperback) |
| Pages | 87 |
The Twits is a funny children's book. It was written by Roald Dahl and illustrated by Quentin Blake. The book first came out in 1980. Later, in November 2007, The Twits was even made into a play for the stage.
Contents
About The Twits
Roald Dahl got the idea for The Twits because he really disliked beards. He wanted to write a story that showed how much he disliked them. The very first sentence of the book says, "What a lot of hairy-faced men there are around nowadays!" This shows how much he disliked beards.
Story Summary
The story is about a very mean and ugly couple called Mr. and Mrs. Twit. They live in a brick house that has no windows. They are always playing horrible tricks on each other. They do this because they truly hate each other.
The Twits also keep a family of pet monkeys called the Muggle-Wumps. The Twits used to train animals for a circus. Now, they are trying to create the world's first upside-down monkey circus. They force the monkeys to stand on their heads for many hours.
Mr. Twit has a special glue called Hugtight. He uses it to catch birds for Mrs. Twit. She wants to bake the birds into a bird pie. The monkeys try to warn the birds not to land on the tree. But the birds do not understand what the monkeys are saying.
Once a week, a special bird called the Roly-Poly bird visits the monkeys. This bird can understand many languages. It secretly helps the monkeys by translating their warnings to the other birds. One Tuesday night, four boys see a ladder next to the glue tree. They climb up without knowing about the glue. On Wednesday morning, Mr. Twit sees that the boys scared the birds away. He gets very angry and chases the boys, but they escape. Mr. Twit tries many times to catch birds. When he fails, he and Mrs. Twit decide to buy guns to shoot them.
The Muggle-Wumps then come up with a clever plan. They decide to use Mr. Twit's own glue. They use it to stick all the Twits' furniture to the ceiling. The birds also help by putting glue on the Twits' heads. When the Twits come home, they are shocked by the mess. Mr. Twit suggests they stand on their heads. He thinks this will make them "the right way up."
Hours later, Mr. and Mrs. Twit are still standing on their heads. All their weight is pushing down on their heads. They get a strange illness called "the Dreaded Shrinks." Their bodies start to get smaller and smaller. Their feet shrink into their legs. Their legs shrink into their stomachs. Their stomachs shrink into their heads. Finally, their heads shrink into nothing but two pairs of shoes and old clothes.
Mr. Twit's Character
Mr. Twit is a very bad person. His whole face is covered in hair, except for his forehead, eyes, and nose. He thinks his hair makes him look smart and important. But everyone else thinks it makes him look like a twit. His hair is spiky and hard. He never washes it. Because of this, his mustache often has bits of food stuck in it. These bits include sardines, cheese, and corn flakes. Sometimes, when he is hungry, he licks these food scraps out and eats them.
To trick Mrs. Twit into thinking she was shrinking, he slowly made her chair and cane longer. This made her believe she was getting shorter. Instead of using a cloth, Mr. Twit wipes his mouth on his sleeve. He also loves to drink beer, even at breakfast. He is known for being very quiet when he is planning something mean. Both he and his wife treat their monkeys, the Muggle-Wumps, very badly. They keep the Muggle-Wump family locked in a cage in their garden. In the end, the "dreaded shrinks" made Mr. Twit disappear completely.
Mrs. Twit's Character
Mrs. Twit is Mr. Twit's incredibly ugly and scary wife. People say she used to have a nice face. But her mean thoughts started to show on her face. Eventually, she became so ugly that no one could stand to look at her.
She uses her glass eye to play tricks on her husband. This is her way of getting back at him. She also does many cruel things throughout the story. For example, she uses her walking cane to hit innocent children and animals. She also helps her husband torment their pet monkeys, the Muggle-Wumps. Once, she even served Mr. Twit a lunch of worms. She disguised them as spaghetti.
Even though she often acts foolishly, she can also be smart. For instance, she managed to get down safely after being carried into the sky by balloons. She did this by chewing through some of the strings. Besides this, she is shown as being ugly, mean, and very dirty.
The Nasty Tricks
Many tricks are played in the story. These tricks help the story move forward. Here are some of them:
The Glass Eye Trick
Mrs. Twit takes out her glass eye. She drops it into her husband's beer mug when he is not looking. Mr. Twit does not see it until he finishes his drink. When he empties the mug, he sees the eye sitting there. It scares him a lot. Mrs. Twit laughs. She brags that this proves she is always watching him.
The Frog Trick
To get back at Mrs. Twit for the glass eye trick, Mr. Twit puts a frog in her bed. He then scares Mrs. Twit. He tells her the thing in her bed is a "Giant Skillywiggler." He says it has "teeth like screwdrivers" and will bite off her toes. Mrs. Twit faints. Mr. Twit then splashes a jug of cold water on her face. She quickly wakes up. The frog then hops onto her face to get closer to the water.
Mr. Twit then claims the "Giant Skillywiggler" will soon bite off her nose. Mrs. Twit then runs away in fear.
The Wormy Spaghetti Trick
Mrs. Twit wants revenge for the Frog Trick. She puts worms from the garden into cooked spaghetti. Mr. Twit eats it. Mrs. Twit tells him it is a new kind of "Squiggly Spaghetti" she just bought. After he eats it, Mrs. Twit happily tells him the truth. Mr. Twit is horrified and disgusted.
The Shrinks Trick
Mr. Twit wants revenge for the Wormy Spaghetti. He secretly glues thin pieces of wood onto Mrs. Twit's cane every night. He also glues them onto the legs of her chair. This makes Mrs. Twit believe she is slowly shrinking.
Mr. Twit then scares her. He says she has an illness called "the shrinks." He tells her this illness will make her disappear. Mr. Twit then claims that to cure the shrinks, Mrs. Twit needs to be "stretched." Mr. Twit ties Mrs. Twit up in the garden. He attaches her to 60 gas balloons. He plans to leave her there for a while to teach her a lesson.
However, Mrs. Twit makes a mistake. She says that if the strings break, it will be the end for her. Mr. Twit pretends to tie more strings to her ankles. But instead, he cuts through the strings. This sends her flying into the sky. Mrs. Twit eventually comes back down. She bites through several of the balloon strings. This makes her sink slowly to the ground. She lands on Mr. Twit in the garden. She immediately starts hitting him with her long walking stick.
The Sticky Tree Trick
There is a "Big Dead Tree" in the Twits' garden. Mr. Twit uses this tree to trap birds. He spreads Hug-Tight Sticky Glue on its branches. The birds he catches are then made into a pie by Mrs. Twit. During the story, four schoolboys get caught instead of birds. But they escape by unfastening their trousers and falling to the ground outside the Twits' garden. This happens after Mr. Twit says he will make "boy pie" instead of "bird pie." It is this use of glue that gives the captive monkey Muggle-Wump and his family an idea. They decide to use the glue against the Twits.
Saving the Animals
The Muggle-Wump family uses their friend, the Roly-Poly Bird, to translate. They warn any birds not to land on the Big Dead Tree. They tell them they will be cooked into Mrs. Twit's Bird Pie. Mr. Twit gets angry. He spreads glue on the monkeys' cage, which they use as a perch. The monkeys then change their warning. The birds end up landing on the Twits' roof instead.
This makes Mr. Twit furious. He does not want to wait for his pie. So, the Twits decide to go to the shop. They plan to buy a gun each. While they are gone, Muggle-Wump plans a final trick. He wants to turn the Twits' house upside down. With help from the birds, Muggle-Wump removes the carpet from the floor. He also takes all the tables, chairs, and other things in the house. He uses Mr. Twit's glue to stick everything upside down to the ceiling. The floor is left completely empty.
By doing this, the Twits will think they have been turned upside down. They will be standing on what looks like the ceiling of their house. So, they will stand on their heads to be the "right way up." To make sure their heads stick to the ground, two birds put a little glue on the Twits' heads. They do this right before the Twits enter the house. This way, when they stand on their heads, they will get stuck.
Just as the trick is ready, the Twits come home. Everything goes as planned. The Twits believe they are upside down. So, they stand on their heads to fix it. But they get stuck to the bare floor. However, heads are not meant to be stood upon. With so much weight pushing down, the Twits literally get "the shrinks." This was mentioned earlier in the book. But this time, it is not a trick; it is real. After about a week, the Twits disappear. Everyone who knew them shouts "hooray!" Meanwhile, the Muggle-Wumps and the Roly-Poly bird escape to their home in Africa.
Movie and TV Shows
A movie based on The Twits has been planned since 2003. Companies like Vanguard Animation and Walt Disney Pictures have worked on it. Later, Working Title and Universal Studios took over the project. In 2012, it was announced that Conrad Vernon, who directed Shrek 2, would direct the film.
Also, an animated TV series based on The Twits is being made by Netflix. This series is part of a bigger plan to create animated shows based on many of Roald Dahl's novels.
Connections to Other Roald Dahl Books
- A monkey named Muggle-Wump also appears in The Enormous Crocodile. A monkey that looks like Quentin Blake's drawing of Muggle-Wump is also in The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me.
- A Roly-Poly Bird also shows up in The Enormous Crocodile. You can also find this bird in Dirty Beasts.
- Some things from the book, like Mr. Twit's beard, "Wormy Spaghetti," and bird pie, are mentioned in Roald Dahl's Revolting Recipes.
- A very strong glue is also talked about in Matilda.
Images for kids
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The original cover of The Twits.
See also
In Spanish: Los Cretinos para niños
