The Magic Finger is a children's novel written by British author Roald Dahl. It follows the adventures of a young girl who possesses magical abilities.
An unnamed young girl, the story's narrator, is born on a small farm in the English countryside. She has a power that she refers to as the "Magic Finger." It allows her to shoot a ray of lightning at someone who has angered her, with great consequences for the recipient. She lives next to the Gregg family, all of whom are avid hunters. After watching them bring home a dead deer, Philippa becomes very angry. Without intending to, she turns them all into ducks. They wake up the next day to find that they have been transformed. Initially shocked, they live life as ducks, building a nest for themselves. They are then set upon by a family of ducks who have taken their guns. They beg not to be killed, and the mother duck tells them they no longer seem so in love with shooting now that they are on the other end of it. They are instructed to never harm another animal for the rest of their lives. To be spared, they agree to this. The following day, Philippa sets off to teach another family of hunters a lesson.
First published in 1966, the book is known as one of Dahl's more minor works but is still well-regarded for its themes of environmentalism and non-violence. In a starred review for Kirkus, children's author Alice Harman says the book is "quite funny" and praises its rendering of childhood impressions of magic. In 1990, the novel was adapted into a television special, narrated by Anne Clements.
