Which Roald Dahl book is a collection of poems retelling classic nursery rhymes?

Revolting Rhymes is Roald Dahl’s collection of poems retelling classic nursery rhymes.

Published in 1982, the book presents six familiar fairy tales and nursery-rhyme narratives in comic, subversive verse. Dahl changes traditional plots, gives characters sharper personalities, and adds darkly humorous endings. Quentin Blake illustrated the original edition, contributing energetic drawings that became closely associated with the book.

The collection includes retellings of “Cinderella,” “Jack and the Beanstalk,” “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” “Goldilocks and the Three Bears,” “Little Red Riding Hood,” and “The Three Little Pigs.” These are not straightforward versions of the traditional stories; their appeal comes from the deliberate reversals and modern comic tone.

Readers sometimes confuse Revolting Rhymes with Dirty Beasts, another Dahl poetry book. Dirty Beasts focuses on animal poems, while Revolting Rhymes specifically reworks well-known fairy tales and nursery-rhyme plots.