Hi, I'm Alison, going to be around a bit more now as off work recovering after abdominal surgery. ...
Hi, I'm Alison, going to be around a bit more now as off work recovering after abdominal surgery. I also write on Dooyoo under the same name but under the picture of my dog Oscar!
Member since:27.07.2003
Reviews:158
Members who trust:120
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is probably the best known and most loved book of all Roald Dahl's stories. The story has recently been brought back to centre stage by the recent film now out on DVD. For me the first time I came across Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was when it was read out on TV on a programme called Jackanory. For those of you too young to remember Jackanory used to be on BBC1 and they would have a different person read from a book with the illustrations from the book being put up on the TV screen at various points. This was when I first got hooked on the Roald Dahl books.
The Plot
Most of you probably know the story really well but for those of you who don't here is the basic story. The main character in the novel is Charlie Bucket a young boy who comes from a poor family. He lives in a little
wooden house with his parents and both sets of grandparents. There is only one bed and both sets of grandparents stay in the bed! The family often go hungry and there is one thing more than anything that Charlie longs to have - Chocolate!! Every year on his birthday the family would save up their money and buy him one chocolate bar which he would savour and only nibble a little at a time making one bar last a whole month (don't think there are many of us that could show that much self control!). Near where Charlie lives is a famous Chocolate Factory owned by Willy Wonka a mysterious man. A competition begins to allow five children the chance to see round the factory and to win a life times supply of sweets. In order to win they must find one of five golden tickets hidden inside the chocolate bars.
Charlie wins a ticket along with four other children with the most fantastic names. We have Augustus Gloop a very greedy boy. Dahl does not mince his words when describing him as "great flabby folds of fat bulged out from every part of his body, and his face was like a monstrous ball of dough with small greedy curranty eyes". Roald Dahl is certainly not politically correct but amusing none the less!
Then we have Veruca Salt who is a rich spoilt child and Violet Beauregarde who does nothing but chew gum all day. Finally there is Mike Teavee who spends all day watching TV (hence the name!) and doesn't really get excited about anything else except TV.
The children get a tour of the chocolate factory with Willy Wonka and are faced with amazing inventions, unbelievable sweets and of course the Oompa-Loompas who work in the factory. The story unfolds and strange things happen which children will find greatly amusing. To find out what happens you'll need to read the book.
What I like about this book?
This is a classic Roald Dahl novel full of humour, interest and the bad people getting what they deserved. Dahls imagination runs riot in the Chocolate Factory with the most amazing inventions and sweets that will capture any childs imagination.
The book is about chocolate and sweets a winning combination for a childrens book. The idea of a world full of chocolate rivers and trees full of sweeties will be fantastic for a child or an adult!
The book is divided into thirty chapters so is good for reading small chunks at a time to your child. It will appeal to all ages but most probably to children aged from around 5-10 years old. The book I have has black and white illustrations which are drawn by Michael Foreman. I feel that the drawings are not as good as the quirky drawings by Quentin Blake who illustrates most of the other Roald Dahl books. However when I looked on Amazon the books that are for sale now do have the Quentin Blake drawings so mine must be an older version. I would recommend getting the one with Quentin Blake as his illustrations are great.
The book can also teach your child some morals in that the people who are greedy or break the rules do not win.
If you enjoy this book then there is a sequel which is less well known but is called "Charlie and the great glass elevator".
ISBN: 0141311304 Pages - 160 Cost - £4.79 on Amazon
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