History Literature / GeorgesMarvelousMedicine

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/georges_marvellous_medicine.png]]
''George's Marvelous Medicine'' is a 1981 children's book by Creator/RoaldDahl. George is a young boy left alone with his horrible grandmother. Responsible for giving her medicine, he decides to mix his own one using ingredients such as paint and animal pills, having no idea what the result will be.

And far from poisoning her, it instead makes her grow incredibly tall. When his parents return to the farm and see that it has similar effects on the animals, his dad tries to get George to reproduce the formula. However, he cannot get it ''exactly'' right (to the misfortune of the chickens they test it on). The fourth and final batch turns out to be a ''shrinking'' medicine...which Grandma mistakes for tea and drinks a whole teacup full of. She then proceeds to shrink till she is invisible to the naked eye.

!!Tropes present in this book:
* AbusiveParents: George's Grandma loves to terrify him when his parents aren't there. She sometimes even does it while they ''are'' there.
* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: "[Grandma] spent all day and every day sitting in her chair by the window, and she was always complaining, grousing, grouching, grumbling, griping about something or other."
* AssholeVictim: Grandma's end is horrible, and it's clear that Mr. Kranky knows what he's doing when he tells her to drink it when she mistakes it for tea, but she's such of a jerk that even George's mom (her own ''daughter!'') gets over this rather quickly.
* AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever: Grandma, and most of the animals of the farm, after some doses of medicine.
* BalloonBelly: As part of the transformation that ultimately renders her a giant, Grandma briefly swells up in this manner (it's air -- and it's "a puncture" that keeps her from exploding).
* BiggerIsBetter: At least in the case of farm animals, according to George's father. That's why he tries to have his son produce some ''more'' of his magic medicine.
* BlessedWithSuck: Subverted. When Grandma becomes a giantess she crashes through the roof and needs to get unstuck, later she has to sleep in the granary because she doesn't fit in the house; despite this, however, she's still perfectly happy with her new size.
* BodyHorror: What happens to the second and third chickens that drink George's experimental medicines when he tries to replicate the original formula. One grows super long legs and the other gets a six foot long neck. Averted with the ''fourth'' "test subject" chicken, which simply shrinks until it's the size of a newly hatched chick.
* ChekhovsGun: Grandma's SpotOfTea habit. She demands one every couple of minutes from George or his parents after something exciting happens. In the end, she mistakes George's Marvelous Medicine Number four for tea and gulps it against his and her daughter's protests. This shrinks her to microscopic size.
* DoesNotLikeSpam: Early on, Grandma tells George to stop eating chocolate, and to eat cabbage instead. George reacts with disgust and says he doesn't like cabbage.
* DoNotTryThisAtHome: Modern editions of the book come with warnings to children that mixing thirty odd different chemicals in a pot and giving it to your relatives to drink would probably in fact be quite poisonous. Sad thing is that there is probably at least ''one'' [[ChildrenAreInnocent kid that needed to to hear it]].
* EveryoneHasStandards: George hates his grandmother and thinks she's a terrible person, but even ''he'' doesn't want her to be killed. Thus, he and his mother warn her not to drink from the cup he's holding because it's a variant of the Marvelous medicine that shrinks the person who swallows it and one dose turned a hen into a chick-size.
* {{Fainting}}: After George's mother comes back from shopping and Grandma tells her that she and the hen in the garden were enlarged by George's medicine, George's mother comes very close to passing out.
* FateWorseThanDeath: Grandma shrinks to microscopic size after stealing George's fourth reattempt at the growth formula.
* HaveAGayOldTime: "Horny finger" is used twice and "mighty queer chickens" is used once.
* HarmlessVillain: Sure, Grandma is a real piece of work, but due to her old age and limited mobility, she can't actually do anything worse than boss George around, insult him and frighten him with scary stories.
* IncredibleShrinkingMan: Grandma's sticky end.
* ItRunsOnNonsensoleum: The premise of the book is definitely powered by nonsensoleum.
* {{Jerkass}}: Grandma, of course. She even insults her own daughter, George's mother, behind her back.
* KidHero: George continues the tradition of "little boy protagonist" in Roald Dahl books.
* LoopholeAbuse: George doesn't touch the the cabinet of human medicines because his parents very clearly warned him against doing so. However, they didn't say anything about the ''animal'' medicines...
* NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup: George literally grabs bottles of cosmetics, seasonings, antifreeze, animal pills, etc. and dumps them into a bucket, with little or no regard for what, exactly, he's using -- or how much for that matter. This is why duplicating the first medicine proves impossible.
* NotNowKiddo: George and his mother yell at his grandmother that they'll make her fresh tea and the cup in his hand isn't for drinking. Grandma doesn't listen, assuming George is being greedy about making tea for himself and not sharing. It's only after she gulps it that her daughter is able to tell her that it was George's Marvelous Medicine 4.
* ObnoxiousInLaws: George's father doesn't like Grandma (his mother-in-law) either, to the point that he tricks her into drinking an entire cup of Marvelous Medicine #4, which makes her shrink until she's completely invisible.
* SchmuckBait: Grandma sees a cup of what looks like tea in George's hands the day after she becomes a giant. She demands it immediately. George and his mother protest, but George's father tells her it's good tea. Grandma takes the cup and chugs it.
* ShapeShifting: What happens to George's chickens when he tries his new formulas on them, instead of the desired SizeShifting.
* SlasherSmile: Grandma gives George one as she's telling him a scary story. The narration describes it as "a thin icy smile, like the kind a snake might make before it bites you".
* SquareCubeLaw: Square cube what? Though Grandma is depicted as unnaturally thin in her giant form, which could have compensated for the otherwise increased mass, the chicken the same batch of medicine is used on retains its relative girth as it grows, yet is still agile enough to run around with Grandma on its back.
* TrademarkFavouriteFood: Grandma is very fond of gin, and is allowed a small drink of it every evening. While initially making the medicine, George passes a bottle of gin on the sideboard, and remembering how much Grandma likes it, decides to add it to the mixture. Also, in a more disgusting example, beetles are Grandma's favourite insects to eat, because of how they crunch, especially if she has one in a stick of celery.
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''George's Marvelous Medicine'' is a 1981 children's book by Creator/RoaldDahl. George is a young boy left alone with his horrible grandmother. Responsible for giving her her medicine, he decides to mix his own one using ingredients such as paint and animal pills, having no idea what the result will be. And far from poisoning her, it instead makes her grow incredibly tall. When his parents return to the farm and see that it has similar effects on the animals, his dad tries to get George to reproduce the formula. However, he cannot get it ''exactly'' right (to the misfortune of the chickens they test it on). The fourth and final batch turns out to be a ''shrinking'' medicine...which Grandma mistakes for tea and drinks a whole teacup full of. She then proceeds to shrink till she is invisible to the naked eye.
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!!Tropes:

* BiggerIsBetter: At lest in the case of farm animals, according to George's father. That's why he tries to have his son produce some ''more'' of his magic medicine.

* IncrediblyLamePun: One edition of the book describes what George does to Grandma as "a taste of her own medicine".

* SquareCubeLaw: Square cube what? Though Grandma is depicted as unnaturally thin in her giant form, which could have compensated for the otherwise increased mass, the chicken the same batch of medicine is used on retains it's relative girth as it grows, yet is still agile enough to run around with Grandma on its back.

* SquareCubeLaw: Square cube what? Though Grandma is depicted as unnaturally thin in her giant form, which could have compensated for the otherwise increased mass, the chicken the same batch of medicine is used on retains it's relative girth as it grows, yet is still agile enough to run around with Grandma on it's back.

* HarmlessVillain: Sure, Grandma is a real piece of work, but due to her old age she can't actually do anything worse than boss George around and frighten him with scary stories.

* ItRunsOnNonsensoleum: The premise of the book is definitely powered by nonsenseoleum.

* AbusiveParents: George's Grandma loves to terrify him when his parents aren't there.

* SquareCubeLaw: Square cube what? (Though Grandma is depicted as unnaturally thin in her giant form.)
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* [[AbusiveParents Abusive Grandparent]]: George's Grandma loves to terrify him when his parents aren't there.

* [[IncredibleShrinkingMan Incredible Shrinking Woman]]: Grandma's sticky end.

* AssholeVictim: Grandma's end is horrible, but she's such of a jerk that even George's mom (her own ''daughter!'') gets over this rather quickly.
* AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever: Grandma (and most of the animals of the farm) after some doses of medicine.

* BodyHorror: What happens to the second and third chickens that drink George's experimental medicines when he tries to replicate the original medicine. One grows super long legs and the other gets a six foot long neck. Averted with the ''fourth'' "test subject" chicken, which simply shrinks until it's the size of a newly hatched chick.

* NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup: George literally grabs several bottles of animal pills in each hand and dumps them into a bucket, with no regard for what, exactly, he's using -- or how much for that matter. This is why duplicating the first medicine proves impossible.

* DoNotTryThisAtHome: Modern editions of the book come with warnings to children that mixing thirty odd different chemicals in a pot and giving it to your relatives to drink would probably in fact be quite poisonous. Sad thing is that there is probably at least ''one'' [[ViewersAreMorons kid that needed to to hear it]].

* AssholeVictim: Grandma's end is horrible, but she's such of a jerk that even George's mom (her ''daughter!'') gets over it rather quickly.
* AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever: Grandma and most of the animals of the farm after some doses of medicine.
* BiggerIsBetter: At lest in the case of farm animals, according to George's father. That's why he tries to have his son produce some more magic medicine.
* BlessedWithSuck: Subverted. When Grandma becomes a giantess she crashes through the roof and needs to get unstuck, later she has to sleep in the granary because she doesn't fit in the house; despite this, however, she's perfectly happy with her new size.

* DoNotTryThisAtHome: Modern editions of the book come with warnings to children that mixing thirty odd different chemicals in a pot and giving it to your relatives to drink would probably in fact be quite poisonous. Sad thing is that there is probably at least one kid that needed to to hear it.

* [[IncredibleShrinkingMan Incredible Shrinking Woman]]: Grandma's end.

* NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup: George literally grabs several bottles of animal pills in each hand and dumps them into a bucket, with no regard for what, exactly, he's using.

* SquareCubeLaw: Square cube what?
** Somewhat averted in the illustrations, Grandma is depicted as unnaturally thin in her giant form
----

''George's Marvelous Medicine'' is a children's book by Creator/RoaldDahl. It is about a boy named George who is left alone with his horrible grandmother. When it is time for him to give her her medicine he mixes his own one using ingredients such as paint and animal pills. Far from poisoning her, it instead makes her grow incredibly tall. When his parents return to the farm his dad tries to get George to reproduce the medicine for giant farm animals. However, he cannot get it exactly right, to the misfortune of the chickens they test it on. The book ends when he makes a shrinking medicine which Grandma mistakes for tea and drinks a whole bottle of. She then proceeds to shrink till she is invisible to the naked eye.

* LoopholeAbuse: The cabinet full of human medicines, George doesn't touch. Various ''animal'' pills, however...

''George's Marvelous Medicine'' is a children's book by Creator/RoaldDahl. It is about a boy named George who is left alone with his horrible grandmother. When it is time for him to give her her medicine he mixes his own one using ingredients such as paint and animal pill. Far from poisoning her it instead makes her grow incredibly tall. When his parents return to the farm his Dad tries to get George to exactly reproduce the medicine for giant farm animals, however he cannot get it exactly right to the misfortune of the chickens they test it on. The book ends when he makes a shrinking medicine which Grandma mistakes for tea and drinks a whole bottle of. She then proceeds to shrink till she is invisible to the naked eye.

* NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup

* DoNotTryThisAtHome: Modern editions of the book come with warnings to children that mixing thirty odd different chemicals in a pot and giving it to your relatives to drink would probably in fact be quite poisonous. Sad thing is that there is probably at least one kid that needed to to hear it.

* HaveAGayOldTime
-->"Come closer to me, little boy," [Grandma] said, beckoning to him with a horny finger.

''George's Marvelous Medicine'' is a children's book by Creator/RoaldDahl. It is about the titular character, a boy named George, who is left alone with his horrible grandmother. When it is time for him to give her her medicine he mixes his own one using ingredients such as paint and animal pill. Far from poisoning her it instead makes her grow incredibly tall. When his parents return to the farm his Dad tries to get George to exactly reproduce the medicine for giant farm animals, however he cannot get it exactly right to the misfortune of the chickens they test it on. The book ends when he makes a shrinking medicine which Grandma mistakes for tea and drinks a whole bottle of. She then proceeds to shrink till she is invisible to the naked eye.