Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Roald Dahl
Who is Roald Dahl?
Roald Dahl was born in 1916 in Wales of Norwegian parents. When Roald was four years old, his father died, so his mother had to organise to manage alone for herself and her six children. He was educated in England before starting work for the Shell Oil Company in Africa where he got the adventure he wanted: great heat, crocodiles, snakes and safaries. He lived in the jungle, learned to speak Swahili and suffered from malaria. He began writing after a 'monumental bash on the head' sustained as an RAF (Royal Air Force of Nairobi) fighter pilot during the Second World War.
His books are mostly fantasy, and full of imagination. They are always a little cruel, but never without humour - a mixture of the grotesque and comic. A frequent motif is, that people are not, what they appear to be.
Roald Dahl is one of the most successful and well-known of all children's writers. His books, which are read by children the world over, include James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Magic Finger, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, Fantastic Mr Fox, Matilda, The Twits, The BFG and The Witches, winner of the 1983 Whitbread Award. Roald Dahl died in 1990 at the age of seventy-four.
Why did he write Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?
The idea for Charlie came from Roald Dahl’s schooldays, when he and other classmates were occasionally asked by Cadbury’s to test newly invented chocolate bars. He used to dream of inventing his own famous chocolate bar that would win the praise of Mr Cadbury himself.
Roald Dahl found Charlie and the Chocolate Factory one of the most difficult books to write. His first draft of the story included fifteen horrible children. His nephew Nicholas read it and said it was boring, so Dahl realized he needed to rewrite it!
The Summary
This book tells the story of a boy, Charlie Bucket, who loves the chocolate, but his poor family can't afford to buy more than potatoes, bread and cabbage.
He lives with his parents and his four grandparents in the same house in a village where there is the biggest and wonderful chocolate factory in the world, The
Wonka's Factory, owned by a weird man.
One day, the owner decides to hide five invitations to his factory in his chocolate bars dispersed around the whole world.
Charlie finds the last one invitation
and the five children with their grown-up parents know Willy Wonka, who invites them inside the factory.
During the tour, every children has a temptation to do something wrong, every children less one, who will be the only one children who really will know what is
the real reason of Willy Wonka to organize the children tour.
The life of the selected child and his or her family will change forever...
The Review
I think Charlie and the chocolate factory is a perfect book for everyone (adults and children) because it gives hope for the good people in a really touching story.
Is an adventure in a fantastic world where everything is possible and, in that place, people humble with big heart will be rewarded.
That is the direct message of the story and that is the reason why I would recommend it. Furthermore, It is a funny and entertaining read and, with the detailed descriptions, the reader can imagine the world of Charlie perfectly.
It is easy to read because it is written for kids and the words used are common, only some adjectives in the descriptions are a bit strange, but in general the reader won't have trouble to understand the general meaning.
In conclusion, if I had to describe it with one word, I would say It is magic and I recommend that you add this to your collection!
Main Characters
- Charlie Bucket: Is the boy of the story. Is a small boy, skinny, but with a big heart. He loves chocolate but his family is poor and he can only have chocolate on his birthday. He has a lot of reasons to complain (food, cold...) but he never does.
- Willy Wonka: Is a little and strange man who owns the Wonka's Factory. He wears black top hat, velvet tail coat, bottle green trousers, pearly grey gloves and he carries a fine gold-topped walking cane. He is the greatest inventor and maker of chocolates that there has ever been. Sometimes charming with people but other times insensitive. With strange humour.
- Grandpa Joe: Is the father of Mr Bucket. He is 96 years old, very weak and tired and looks like a skeleton. He loves to tell stories about Wonka and his factory. Is a kind person and is the best friend of Charlie.
other characters
- Augustus Gloop: Enormously fat with great flabby folds and his face is like a monstrous ball of dough. Eating is his hobby.
- Veruca Salt: She has rich parents. She is very spoiled girl. Asking for is her hobby.
- Violet Beauregarde: She talks very fast and loudly and is always chewing gum. She thinks nobody can beat her. Chewing gum is her hobby.
- Mike Teavee: He is always seated before an enormous television set. He is a know-it-all child. Watching TV is his hobby.
- Oompa Loompas: Strange little creatures from Loompaland. They love dancing and music. They are always making up songs. They like jokes and they are wonderful workers.
- The rest of the Bucket family: The other three grandparents are Grandma Josephine and Grandpa George - Grandma Georgina. They are very old and they spend all the time in bed because they are very weak. The mother of Charlie can't work because she must stay at home taking care of the old people and his father works like a toothpaste cap-screwer, so he doesn't earn so much. They are very poor.
Interesting Vocabulary (in order of appearance)
- Praise: The act of expressing approval or admiration.
- Cabbage: Any of several cultivated varieties of a plant, eaten cooked or raw.
- Tummy: Stomach.
- Slabs of chocolate: A stack of chocolate bars.
- Munch: To chew with steady or vigorous working of the jaws, often audibly.
- Tiny nibble: To bite off small bits.
- Shrivelled as prunes: To contract and wrinkle, as from great heat, cold, or dryness.
- Huddled: To gather or crowd together in a close mass.
- Wrinkled: A small furrow or crease in the skin, especially of the face, usually from aging.
- Eager: Keen or ardent in desire or feeling; impatiently longing.
- Gobble up: To swallow or eat hastily or hungrily in large pieces; gulp.
- Chuckling: To laugh softly or amusedly, usually with satisfaction.
- Lick: To pass the tongue over the surface of, as to moisten, taste, or eat.
- Doze: To fall into a light sleep unintentionally.
- Stare: To gaze fixedly and intently, especially with the eyes wide open.
- Pull somebody's leg: To play a joke on somebody.
- Whir: To move quickly with a humming or buzzing sound.
- Flabby Folds: Flaccid crease.
- Nourishment: Food, nutriment, or sustenance.
- Indeed: In fact; in reality; in truth.
- Piggy bank: a small bank, having the shape of a pig, provided with a slot at the top to receive small coins.
- Grin: To smile broadly, especially as an indication of pleasure, amusement, or the like.
- Vow: A solemn promise, pledge, or personal commitment.
- Scraggy: Lean or thin; scrawny.
- Gamble: To play at any game of chance for money or other stakes.
- Hoard: A supply or accumulation that is hidden or carefully guarded for preservation, future use, etc.
- Cheek: Either side of the face below the eye and above the jaw.
- Astonish: To fill with sudden and overpowering surprise or wonder; amaze.
- Mischief: Conduct or activity that playfully causes petty annoyance.
- Dreadful: Causing great dread, fear, or terror; terrible.
- Wart: A small, often hard, abnormal elevation on the skin.
- Glance back: To look quickly or briefly behind.
- Rabbit warren: A place where rabbits breed or abound.
- Froth: An aggregation of bubbles on an agitated liquid.
- Flabbergasted, Staggered, Dumbfounded, Bewildered, Dazzled: To overcome with surprise, astound, confused.
- Crave: To want greatly; desire eagerly.
- Grudge: A feeling of resentment.
- Fudge: A soft candy made of sugar, butter, milk, chocolate, and sometimes nuts.
- Oar: A long shaft with a broad blade at one end, used for steering a boat.
- Simmering: To cook or cook in a liquid at or just below the boiling point.
- Utterly: Completely.
- Spit out: To eject from the mouth.
- Squeeze: To apply pressure to in order to extract juice.
- Waft: Carry on the air.
- Dawdle: To waste time.
- Knuckle: A joint of a finger, especially one of the articulations of a metacarpal with a phalanx.
- Astray: Out of the right way; off the correct or known road, path, or route.
- Pace: Step.
- Off your rocker: Behaving in a very strange or silly way.
- Midget: Small person.
- Handkerchief: A small piece of linen, silk used especially for wiping one's nose.
- Dart: Run very fast.
- Hunch: A premonition or suspicion; guess.
- Eerie: To inspire superstitious fear.
Opening of chapter 5 (Audio file)
Audio Script
Chapter 5 - The Golden Tickets
'You mean people are actually going to be allowed to go inside the factory?' cried Grandpa Joe. 'Read us what it says — quickly!'
'All right,' said Mr Bucket, smoothing out the newspaper. 'Listen.'
EVENING BULLETIN
Mr Willy Wonka, the confectionery genius whom nobody has seen for the last ten years, sent out the following notice today:
I, Willy Wonka, have decided to allow five children — just five, mind you, and no more — to visit my factory this year. These lucky five will be shown around personally by me, and they will be allowed to see all the secrets and the magic of my factory. Then, at the end of the tour, as a special present, all of them will be given enough chocolates and sweets to last them for the rest of their lives! So watch out for the Golden Tickets! Five Golden Tickets have been printed on golden paper, and these five Golden Tickets have been hidden underneath the ordinary wrapping paper of five ordinary bars of chocolate. These five chocolate bars may be anywhere — in any shop in any street in any town in any country in the world — upon any counter where Wonka's Sweets are sold. And the five lucky finders of these five Golden Tickets are the only ones who will be allowed to visit my factory and see what it's like now inside! Good luck to you all, and happy hunting! (Signed Willy Wonka.)