Charlie and The Chocolate Factory

I m sure most of us have seen Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by now. While I won t expound much on the book, I still recommend it over the movie. Why? The movie is wonderful for eye candy and candy in general, but the wonderful wit of the characters, especially Willy Wonka, is too easily missed in the glare of colours. [return][return]In a nutshell, boy (Charlie Bucket) from very poor family finds one of the five golden tickets that entitle the holder entry and a tour of Willy Wonka s Chocolate Factory. Wonka had a secret agenda for this sudden generosity. Charlie and four other children unwittingly went through trials and temptation. Only good-hearted Charlie passes his test and becomes Wonka s heir.[return][return]Wonka s personal history is never revealed in the book, and their next adventure begins immediately after they collect the Bucket family from their little wooden house at the end of Chocolate Factory.[return][return]Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator takes place after the Elevator leaves the Bucket residence and rockets back into the sky. As Wonka s eccentricities go, the Elevator must achieve a certain height so that it will punch a new entry hole in the roof of the Factory when they descend. Everyone else in the Elevator couldn t see the logic in that either.[return][return]Things go wrong and they end up in space. [return][return]At around the same time, Space Hotel “USA” is floating in space ready to take on its first batch of hotel crew. The Transport Capsule carrying them spots the Glass Elevator, also heading for the hotel. Mistakening them for terrorists, they notify Ground Control. Chaos ensues. The US President, a hapless chap by the name of Lanceleot R Gilligrass, gets involved. [return][return]Unknown to both Transport Capsule and Glass Elevator, the Hotel has already been taken over by a host of aliens called Knids. I won't tell you everything that happened but the Elevator crew does make it back to the Factory intact, and immediately falls into another adventure... all because of the Wonka-Vite.[return][return]The full adventures of Charlie and Willy Wonka continues in another book... which I do not have at this time.[return]return

Very nice book for children. I saw the movie first, but I wanted to know if there are some differences in the book. I liked how it's described in the book, three stars are very good in this case. If I would rate the czech audiobook narrated by Barbora Hrzánová, it would definitely get 5 stars, cause she is awesome! How she made the differences between all the children and adult characters, simply amazing!

First time! This book was so good! I truly missed out by not reading this as a kid. The inner workings of the chocolate factory are just so perfect for inspiring a child's imagination. Charlie loved this book too. I think he related to the obsession with candy, and the drama involved with the kids getting into trouble was a perfect level of intensity (strangely violent, but not cruelly so) for a 5 year old. The routine of each child getting picked off one by one was also predictable/satisfying for Charlie. This has been the best chapter book read-aloud experience yet. Most nights, it was me proposing to read “just one more” extra chapter, and not him!

Superbly Sweet


In addition to my personal goal of reading eighty books this year, I've embarked on a delightful journey of shared reading with my eight-year-old niece. One of our initial picks was Roald Dahl's classic, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” While I've cherished the Gene Wilder film adaptation for years, experiencing the book alongside my niece marked my own first foray into Dahl's enchanting tale.

As a third-grade read, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” proved to be a perfect fit for our daily reading routine. With homework mandating twenty minutes of reading per day, we effortlessly devoured 2-3 chapters each session, thanks to the book's concise chapters and charming illustrations scattered throughout. While some vocabulary posed mild challenges, my niece managed to read aloud independently, requiring minimal assistance save for the occasional name pronunciation.

The recent Wonka movie release provided an exciting segue into the book's content, sparking curiosity about the original Willy Wonka film starring Gene Wilder, which we eagerly anticipate watching together. As we look ahead to our next literary adventure with “Matilda,” I'm thrilled to witness my niece's enthusiasm for exploring new stories and characters.

Our reading journey wasn't without its memorable moments, including my impromptu renditions of the beloved Oompa-Loompa songs, much to my niece's delight. Overall, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” facilitated a cherished bonding experience, affirming the timeless appeal of Dahl's storytelling prowess.

Charlie and his family live in poverty and whilst they may not have a lot to go round, it didn't stop him becoming a polite, caring and well mannered young man.

Rereading “The Chocolate Factory” as an adult (and in perhaps to a child at the same time) reminds us not to be greedy, not to spoil our children, to teach them patience, as well as finding other ways to entertain themselves instead of the television (replace that nowadays with a mobile phone or tablet computer) or they may end up suffering ‘interesting' consequences.

What child would not love their own chocolate factory for being polite, caring and well mannered? “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” has stood the test of time and I'm sure will do for generations to come.

On the other hand with “The Great Glass Elevator”, I found myself constantly tapping on my Kindle screen to find out how much time was left until the chapter's end. I get that Dahl's imagination can sometimes take a flight of fancy, but it seemed a bit too much. Unlike “The Chocolate Factory”, I'd like to have forgotten that I read it.

And thus I read the last Dahl on our 1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up list. It may be the best. What a great story! Dahl's characters are vibrant, from Charlie and his little impoverished family to the zany Willy Wonka to the shockingly selfish children that are invited to visit the factory. Dahl sets his story in the most amazing spot of all, a wacky candy factory. The good guys get rewarded and the bad guys learn to be better people, but all in a completely kooky and delightful way.

I snapped up this book firstly because of Ivan Brunetti's lovely illustrations on the book cover. But my secondhand copy of this 2011 edition is worth having just for the introduction by Lev Grossman, Time magazine book critic and author. In it, he compares Willy Wonka's chocolate factory to “Dante's Inferno, and to the Mines of Moria dug by the dwarves in The Lord of the Rings.” Unlike those places,

“Wonka's underworld isn't a hellish underworld. It's an inverted paradise. The dwarves, Tolkien wrote, “dug too greedily and too deep,” and they were punished for it: they disturbed the sleep of the terrible Balrog. But in Dahl's imagination the rules are reversed. He gives us the impression that Wonka can dig as greedily and deep as he likes, and things will just keep getting better.”

it is only when he gives in to buying a second candy bar, with money he doesn't really have, that Dahl rewards him with the Golden Ticket.

Queer but quirky.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was perfect for me when I was little. But when I read it again a few years later, from an eerie blend of wistfulness and caffeine...I became aware of a few things that the child me hadn't really deigned to perceive.

1. Food fetish Alert. (It's becoming a cliche for this genre. Like eyes in chick lit.)

2. What's with the sexism? Has anyone else noticed how Dahl always make the fathers have a certain dry, witty sense of humor that is clearly lacking from the hysterical, daft and deranged mothers?

3. The Oompa Loompa songs are just massive nursery rhymes.

4. Is it just me or is Willy Wonka one sexy sob?

5. If I was one of the lucky five, I'd definitely be one of the bad kids. I'm slightly spoiled, but that doesn't mean I want to be thrown down the rubbish chute!

6. I chew a lot of gum. But a lifetime of unlimited chocolate supply does not make up for an eternity spent as a primary color.

7. Also, I watch more TV than Mike. That doesn't mean I'm not reading books.

8. I'm greedy too. But so would every other kid in the world be when faced with a giant chocolate river!

9. I think Wonka's magical chocolate factory would be more like a carnival of horror for me! I'll fall into a hot chocolate river, turn into a giant blubbery, and shrink to thrice my size. No, thank you.

10) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory could have been an unforgettable Goosebumps!