I read a lot of Dahl's books when I was a kid, both in class and out of it. My younger brother, I'm fairly certain, read every single book Roald Dahl ever published. I also thought they were kind of creepy and dark. Like plenty of other creepy, dark childrens' books I read (special love for John Bellairs here).

The thing that I don't get is that people seem to be citing the popularity of the books as evidence that they weren't regarded as dark or macabre. I honestly don't understand where that comes from. The fact that they were widely read, including in schools, seems like it should be completely compatible with them being macabre. I just don't get it I guess.