Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
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Book Reviews of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Book Review: Simply scrumdiddlyumptious!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is my first Roald Dahl book and I must say I love it! Highly imaginative and full of lessons, this book is a gem. I like the little boy Charlie very much and like most children, he is full of curiosity. He is also obedient for he listens to his parents, Mr and Mrs Bucket, and his very old grandparents. His family is poor and the seven of them live in a tiny, worn-down house. It is heartbreaking reading his family situation.
One day, Mr Willy Wonka, a well-known chocolate maker who was missing in action for a long, long time comes back into business. As we know, Mr Wonka makes all sorts of wonderful, out-of-this-world, magical sweets. His chocolate-making secrets, having been copied before by other manufacturers (that's the reason he closed down and went `missing') he now protects them by hiring a mysterious workforce when he reopens. The workers are never seen to enter or exit from his factory--very strange. The action starts when Mr Wonka launches a competition with an irresistible prize: a visit IN the factory for five children! These children will be able to see how his secret chocolates are made and their adult guardians can come with them. To win, each of them must possess the golden ticket only found in Wonka chocolates! The world, of course, launches into a chocolate-buying frenzy. But Charlie, a chocolate lover, is so poor and could not even afford a decent meal, how could he afford to buy enough chocolates to get a chance to win one of the five golden tickets?
The story gets even better when the five winners--all from different backgrounds and attitudes--get their tour in the factory. Four of them are spoilt brats in their unique ways, and the fifth one is Charlie (of course he got in)! What an experience each of these children and their parents (except Charlie for he brought his grandfather) go through! From the way Mr Wonka talks (as evident in the writing), he is an enthusiastic person. There are lots of exclamation marks punctuating his sentences and italics to emphasis his points. Besides all the intriguing stuff, the children also discover who the workers are. It is interesting to see how the children's mischief gets them into trouble in the factory.
I love how Roald Dahl weaves the magical story so wonderfully and it was funny reading about the four obnoxious children. More interesting is how each `weird' incidence that happens during the tour is in direct relation to their naughtiness. Watch out for the twist towards the ending, too, because there is more to things than just the factory tour. This is an amazing tale.
Book Review: Rutgers University Project on Economics and Children
Summary: 5 Stars
Given the popularity of Roald Dahl's classic book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and of the 2005 Hollywood movie by the same name, few readers need a summary of the plotline and characters. However, less obvious are the valuable economics lessons interwoven throughout this beloved book. The reader meets Charlie Bucket and his parents and both sets of grandparents in the opening chapter, and quickly learns that this family lives in harsh conditions of poverty, with just one bed in a two-room wooden shack. Charlie's father supports this household with a low-pay position as an unskilled worker in a toothpaste factory, screwing caps onto toothpaste tubes all day. The family suffers malnutrition and near starvation, with a diet based mostly on bread, potatoes, and cabbage. Once a year on his birthday, Charlie is given a chocolate bar, which he savors, morsel by morsel, over the course of an entire month.
In contrast, the other four children who win golden tickets to visit Willy Wonka's chocolate factory do not know the meaning of scarcity as they come from families with varying degrees of wealth. Also in contrast to Charlie's wretched living conditions is the presence of Willy Wonka's enormous chocolate factory within sight of his own house. The reader learns more valuable economics lessons from the tale of why Mr. Wonka decided to close his factory to all workers and other people. Earlier, "spies" had leaked secrets of his special production processes to competitors who then proceeded to copy Mr. Wonka and produce the same kinds of delicious and whimsical sweets. The process of producing chocolate and candies in a factory, and the natural resources used to make the products, are economics lessons that appear throughout the book. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory also teaches about consumers and how they respond to incentives by buying more or less of a product; in this case, news of the five golden tickets causes a surge in consumers' demand for Wonka chocolate bars.
Children may think they know the story of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but chances are they do not realize that they are getting a good dose of economics from start to finish. This book makes a nice addition to most collections, including those used to teach lessons about poverty, competition, consumers, and producers.
Book Review: best book
Summary: 5 Stars
"There were only two rooms in the place altogether and there was only one bed. The bed was given to the four old grandparents because they were so old and tired. They were so tired they never got out of it. This is the house of poor Charlie bucket."
Charlie bucket is the main character in the book of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. Charlie bucket is a small child compared to his other friends. This is because Charlie's family is poor and they don't have enough money to buy plenty of food for the six of them. But then one day Charlie bucket finds some money on the floor and he goes to the nearest store and buys a Willy Wonka chocolate bar. When he buys the first chocolate bar he eats it all up then he decides to buy a second one and when he opens the chocolate bar from the back he finds Willy wonkas last golden ticket. After he finds it he runs home and tells his family and they get so excited. After this all the magic happens when Charlie bucket meets Mr. Wonka and the other lucky winners and the adventure begins.
As I read this book I thought to myself, what if I was in Charlie's place? How I would feel if I lived his life? And then that one day I got to find the golden ticket. What I would do is run straight home and tell my family about what I have done, the next thing I would do would be to rub it in all of my friends faces because I would want o see the look on their faces. I think if this would have happened to me I would have been so happy because if I was in Charlie's place and really didn't get anything good in my life I would be the happiest person. One of my favorite parts of this book was when they were in the chocolate factory and they went into the biggest room which was where all the chocolate was made. I liked this part because I imagined a chocolate river and all sorts of kinds of chocolate while I was reading this book. I think the moral of the story is that even though someone is poor, if he or she is patient and friendly while others are not, good things can happen because that's how Charlie was and he happened to win something.
Book Review: Simply the best
Summary: 5 Stars
My kids are 5 and 7 and both of them loved every second of this story. They were thoroughly engaged from page one and couldn't wait to get back to it every night. The combination of bratty little villain kids in such a magnificent world as Willy Wonka's factory, along with the funny little Oompa Loompas and imaginative scenes made this a perfect kids' read. They couldn't wait to find out how the next bad kid was going to get what was coming to him (or her)... and they were equally excited to see how things were going to turn out for little Charlie Bucket in the end. Each crazy invention in Wonka's factory seemed to spark their imagination more than the one before. In other words... this story is pure magic for children. The thing that I appreciated was that the book was littered with funny quotes and moments that kept me, as an adult reader, as thoroughly entertained as the kids were. The Oompa Loompa songs in particular were a highlight for me. As anxious as my kids were to find out what was going to happen to the next kid, I was more anxious to see how the Oompa Loompas were going to immortalize the moment in song.
As an aside... When we had finished reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, we had a movie night at our house and watched "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" (the Gene Wilder movie). Afterward, I heard my kids having a surprisingly thoughtful discussion about how the movie differed from the book. Talk about music to a book-loving mother's ears! I am so happy that our summer reading started with this book. It couldn't have been a better choice.
The Bottom Line: Best. Children's Book. Ever. If you haven't read it already, get busy. If it's been a while... read it again. [This review originally appeared on my blog, The Lit Witch: A Book Blog. See profile for a link.]
Book Review: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Summary: 5 Stars
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, by Roald Dahl
Charlie Bucket's story touched my heart the first time I read "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," when I was much younger. I still like to pull it out from time to time and relive the magic of Willy Wonka's amazing chocolate creations, and the humor of the four nasty children who got what they deserved.
Charlie is a poor child, and lives with his four grandparents and parents in a little ramshackle house. The family barely has enough money to buy food, and survive mostly on cabbage. Mr. Bucket, Charlie's father, works screwing toothpaste caps on full tubes. The only bright spot in their lives are Grandpa Joe's stories, particularly the ones about the mysterious Willy Wonka.
Wonka's factory has been closed to the public for over a decade, but when he puts five Golden Tickets in candy bars, five lucky children have the chance to enter the factory, as well as win a lifetime supply of goodies. Charlie's desperate for a ticket, but his family can only afford one candy bar a year, and he isn't lucky. But as readers of Dahl's works know, good children get their due, and Charlie and Grandpa Joe find a Golden Ticket...
What can I say about "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?" It's one of my favorite of the author's works, and I tend to reread it every few years. If you've never read anything by Roald Dahl, this book is a great place to start.
5/5.