Just Finished Reading: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl (FP: 1964) [180pp] 

Charlie knew he was loved very much by his parents and by both sets of grandparents living with them. Each day, both before he went to school and again when he came home, they made certain that he knew he was loved. But he couldn’t help feeling that a few less draughts, a bit more heat or a larger portion of food would be pretty good too. But at least his birthday was approaching and with it, just like every year, he would have a whole bar of Mr Wonka’s chocolate all to himself. If he offered any of it to his family, as he did every year, they would refuse him – it was HIS birthday after all! But this year there was an extra something to look forward to – the possibility of a GOLDEN ticket inside the bar. A ticket that would give Charlie access to Willie Wonka’s Chocolate Factory and a lifetimes supply of his very special chocolate. All he needed to be was lucky... VERY lucky. 

This will definitely surprise some of my readers! I mean, why on Earth am I reading children’s books? What might surprise people more is that I hardly read a thing as a child, which meant that all of the children’s classics passed me by – including this one. I’ve seen both movie versions (I actually preferred the 1971 Gene Wilder version) but never even thought about reading the book – until it dropped into my lap (I think it was free inside a box of breakfast cereal). Reading it so late, and at such an ‘advanced’ age, I still found it quite charming and quite funny in places. I did chuckle to myself throughout the rather brief experience. Growing up with the Disneyfication of everything I actually didn’t expect the Oompa Loompa songs in the book. I fully expected that these had been added for the movie – not true! I think the thing that most surprised me though was the absolute poverty of Charlie and his family. After his father lost his job – putting on the tops of tubes of toothpaste – the family were literally slowly starving to death! Talk about pathos and social commentary!! I doubt if I enjoyed it quite as much as a child in the 1960’s did (even if I WAS a child in the 60’s) but it was entertaining enough and would probably still entertain a young child today. There’s some solid moral teaching here sprinkled with enough silliness to make the kids chuckle along with the parental reader. Recommended and more children's classics to come.