Danny, the Champion of the World

Nine-year-old Danny is the narrator and protagonist of the story. He is an only child who lives with his father, William, in an old, sparsely furnished, one-room, “Romani caravan.” Danny’s father is a master mechanic, who owns a small filling station with 2 pumps and a well-equipped workshop. Unlike the workshop, the caravan has no electricity, so Danny and his father use a kerosene lamp and burner for light and cooking and a wood-burning stove for heat. Danny’s mother died when he was a baby, but he remembers a blissfully happy childhood growing up with his devoted father and muses that he “never had a moment’s unhappiness or illness” (3). Danny and his father share a bunk bed and sleeping with his father close by brings Danny immense comfort and joy.

Despite not being an educated man, William is a talented storyteller who delights Danny every evening with bedtime stories, some of which run over several nights. One of these stories is about a kind giant who catches children’s dreams, turning the good dreams into powders that turn the dreams into real, marvelous adventures for the children.