Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

“Mr Willy Wonka can make marshmallows that taste of violets, and rich caramels that change colour every ten seconds as you suck them, and little feathery sweets that melt away deliciously the moment you put them between your lips. He can make chewing-gum that never loses its taste, and sugar balloons that you can blow up to enormous sizes before you pop them with a pin and gobble them up. And, by a most secret method, he can make lovely blue birds’ eggs with black spots on them, and when you put one of these in your mouth, it gradually gets smaller and smaller until suddenly there is nothing left except a tiny little DARKRED sugary baby bird sitting on the tip of your tongue.”
― Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a 1964 children’s book by British author Roald Dahl. The story features the adventures of young Charlie Bucket inside the chocolate factory of eccentric chocolatier Willy Wonka.The story was originally inspired by Roald Dahl’s experience of chocolate companies during his schooldays. At that time (around the 1920s), Cadbury and Rowntree’s were England’s two largest chocolate makers and they each often tried to steal trade secrets by sending spies, posing as employees, into the other’s factory.

The plot of this book centers an 11-year-old boy named Charlie Bucket who in lives  in a tiny house with his parents and four grandparents. Every year, on his birthday, Charlie gets one Wonka Bar for present. Then, one year, Willy Wonka decides to open the doors of his factory to five children and their parents after 10 years of keeping it sealed.  In order to choose who will enter the factory and also receive a lifetime supply of chocolate, Mr. Wonka hides five golden tickets in the wrappers of his Wonka chocolate bars. The search for the five golden tickets is fast and furious. Each ticket find is a media sensation and each finder becomes a celebrity. The first four golden tickets are found by Augustus Gloop, Veruca Salt, Violet Beauregarde and Mike Teavee.

“So please, oh please, we beg, we pray,
Go throw your TV set away,
And in its place you can install
A lovely bookshelf on the wall.
Then fill the shelves with lots of books.”
― Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

And of course, eventually, the fifth golden ticket is found by Charlie Bucket. Factory visit, however, is far from an ordinary one. In fact, quite a lot of things go very wrong.

I adore Roald Dahl’s books. When I read it for the first time when I was a kid, it was a magical experience. I loved the characters, very poor Charlie, gluttonous Augustus,  spoiled  spoiled Veruca,gum addict Violet, and the TV-obsessed Mike and parents or relatives of these children, mad & genius Willy Wonka (I mean just think about how he invented television chocolate)  & mysterious Oompa Loompas.

“Whipped cream isn’t whipped cream at all if it hasnt been whipped with whips, just like poached eggs isn’t poached eggs unless it’s been stolen in the dead of the night.”
― Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

I loved the puns and the made-up words. Quentin Blake’s illustrations are just perfect for Roald Dahl’s books.

“Of course they’re real people. They’re Oompa-Loompas…Imported direct from Loompaland…And oh what a terrible country it is! Nothing but thick jungles infested by the most dangerous beasts in the world – hornswogglers and snozzwangers and those terrible wicked whangdoodles. A whangdoodle would eat ten Oompa-Loompas for breakfast and come galloping back for a second helping.”
― Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

For many years I longed for golden ticket to be a real thing…
5/5 stars

How-To Read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

1.This is for children of all ages.  think every kid should read this / all the parents should read this to their kids.
2.You’ll love this if you adore stories with talented imaginations.
3. It’s kind of dark for a children’s book. I didn’t think of it as a kid but indeed… Charlie sleeps on a mattress on the floor and his family is starving to death, Oompa Loompas never leave the factory and they are paid in beans, Willy Wonka is untouchable billionaire corporate owner…
4. Story of Charlie Bucket continues in a sequel called Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator.
5. There are two wonderful movie adaptations:1971 American musical directed by Mel Stuart, and starring Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka & 2005 British-American musical directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka.

“Mr. Wonka: “Don’t forget what happened to the man who suddenly got everything he wanted.”
Charlie Bucket: “What happened?”
Mr. Wonka: “He lived happily ever after.”
― Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Have you read this? Thoughts? What’s your favorite book by Roald Dahl? I think mine is this one & Matilda.