Pure Imagination

Hey, it's Cari once again! This time I come to you with a review of one of my favorite classic children's books: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory! With two movie adaptations and several stage adaptations, including the widely popular Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (a combination of the book and 1971 film) and the West End/Broadway musical Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, this story is well-beloved by audiences around the world.

You can find my rating scale here.

Now without further ado, here's my review.

"Come with me, and you'll be/in a world of pure imagination." Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka in Willy Wonka in the Chocolate Factory These iconic lyrics perfectly describe Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Written in 1964 by Roald Dahl, Charlie the Chocolate Factory combines a whimsical storyline with solid moral lessons to create an unforgettable tale for young and old alike.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory begins with an introduction to the hero and titular character, Charlie Bucket, and his family. Young Charlie lives with his mother and father and four grandparents in a tiny shack outside an unnamed large town. His father, a toothpaste cap-screwer, is paid paltry wages. As a result, the Buckets cannot afford proper food for themselves--they're starving. Charlie craves one thing most in life: chocolate. Every day, as he walks to school, he passes by Willy Wonka's chocolate factory and wishes he could one day visit it.

One day, Wonka announces a contest: he has hidden five Golden Tickets in ordinary candy bars. The lucky winners will be able to tour his factory and receive a lifetime supply of chocolate and candy. Four children (Augustus Gloop, who spends all day eating, Veruca Salt, who gets anything she wants, Violet Beauregard, who chews gum all the time, and Mike Teavee, a television addict) find the first four. All these children are obnoxious brats. At last, Charlie finds the fifth and final Golden Ticket! Little does he know that his life is about to change forever.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory features a whole cast of memorable characters, from the virtuous young Charlie to the iconic Oompa-Loompas. The plot is simple enough for a child to understand, yet with enough moral depth to keep adults interested, too. Readers will be wanting to visit "a world of pure imagination". I loved this book as a child, and now that I'm older, I love it even more. I couldn't help but smile as I read through the familiar plot. Content-wise, Dahl keeps it squeaky clean. Everyone receives their just deserts in the end.

My rating: Five out of five stars