Dahl tops with teachers

A survey found five of his works are among their top 10 books for children under the age of 11.

The man behind The Twits and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was named by almost twice as many teachers as Julia Donaldson and JK Rowling who shared second place.

Donaldson’s The Gruffalo was voted the best book for children in the survey of 848 primary school teachers by the education resources website Teachit Primary.

The website’s founder, Siobhain Archer, said: “Michael Morpurgo, author of War Horse and teachers’ fourth favourite behind Dahl, Rowling and Donaldson, was the stand-out choice as the person teachers would most like to visit their class.”