book review for charlie and the chocolate factory

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book review for charlie and the chocolate factory

[Charlie and the Chocolate Factory]: A Review

Hi y’all!

I’m excited to share a review today of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. While I have read this book several times and seen the movie adaptations over the years, this is the first time I read this book aloud.

Such a fun read aloud with my kids! This was our first successful chapter book that we read start to finish together and it was such a joy to read it!

Initial Thoughts:

It was so fun to return to a favorite childhood author as an adult and as a mother. I loved seeing my kids excitement about what would happen next. And I couldn’t resist when they asked for one more chapter 🙂
There is just something magical about Roald Dahl’s stories paired with Quentin Blake’s illustrations. My kids loved seeing all the silly pictures of the characters doing crazy things.
We are still talking about this book! I love that some of the scenes and characters have stuck with my kids over the past few weeks. It’s so fun to hear them ask “mom, do you remember that girl that turned into a blueberry?” or “mom, do you remember when that boy fell in the chocolate river?” or “mom, do you remember when Charlie won the factory?” I am so happy to be raising little bookworms like their mom 🙂

According to Goodreads, “ Greetings to you, the lucky finder of this Gold Ticket from Mr Willy Wonka! I shake you warmly by the hand! Tremendous things are in store for you!

One miraculous moment changes Charlie Bucket’s life forever. A boy who only gets to eat cabbage soup for breakfast, lunch and dinner finds a Golden Ticket that will take him into Willy Wonka’s magical chocolate factory.

Joining him on the tour are four horrible blighters: Augustus Gloop – a great big greedy nincompoop, Veruca Salt – a spoiled brat, Violet Beauregarde – a repulsive little gum-chewer and Mike Teavee – a TV addict.

With a chocolate river, crafty squirrels and mysterious Oompa Loompas, Mr Wonka’s chocolate factory is the strangest, most magnificent place Charlie has ever seen. What other surprises are in store for the lucky ticket winners? ”

Why this is a great read aloud: I think it best to start with why this book is a great read aloud for young kids. I wasn’t sure how this would go but Roald Dahl’s stories are timeless and perfect for younger listeners with shorter attention spans.

Short chapters easy to read in one sitting : this was an important plus for me. When you know it won’t take too much time to read a chapter, I find I’m more willing to read especially right before bedtime. We’ve enjoyed a few of the Mrs Piggle Wiggle chapters but they are SO long that I start to feel like they are too long. I suppose the takeaway there is to break longer chapters into multiple parts.
Great pictures – at least one per chapter : my kids loved seeing the pictures as we went along. I think that’s a big reason why this book is great for younger listeners. It keeps them engaged because they’re excited about seeing the pictures.
Silly characters that are fun to do different voices for : I love reading in different voices and this book is perfect for it! From Augustus Gloop who is always eating to Mike TeaVee who talks at all the wrong times to Mr Willy Wonka himself who is hilarious, this book is a fun one to voice aloud.
Unique setting with places/objects/experiences new to my kids : The magic of the chocolate factory really drew my kids in. They loved hearing about the chocolate river, how to make the meal gum, the chocolate TV, Oompa Loompas, the picky squirrels, and of course the great glass elevator. It was fun to explain what some new words meant and also fun to introduce them to magic –some things we can’t always explain. And magic is part of life.
Easy to follow story : Roald Dahl is a master storyteller. And this story is perfect for young listeners because it’s not complex and not too long. It is just a great story and it’s fun to go with Charlie on his adventure.

Basically every character has such big personalities. It’s fun to compare them to each other and talk about why they act certain ways and how we would act differently. Mr Wonka was constantly making me laugh because he is so ridiculous and says the silliest things. I love Charlie because he is so good and truly childlike. Grandpa Joe is a great adult character because he still believes in the magic of Wonka and also in the magic of childhood. I enjoyed hearing how my kids reacted to each character as well.

Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory is a fantastic setting. There is something so magical and inviting about our tour of his factory with Charlie. As a kid, I always loved the chocolate room with the chocolate waterfall. My kids loved the pink candy boat they ride on and the great glass elevator. As an adult, I loved the logic behind Wonka TV this time. If only it was really that easy! It’s fun to discover each chapter and each new room of the factory. This book could be twice as long and still offer more surprises about what is inside Wonka’s factory.

The story is delightful and simple but the movie is more complex. We watched the classic Gene Wilder movie afterwards and while it’s certainly true to the essence of the book, it also complicates things. The subplot about the Slugworth stealing Wonka’s ideas and bribing kids and Charlie/Grandpa drinking the fizzy lifting drinks were both added to the movie. My kids didn’t quite get that. I think the book is great for a younger audience because the story is so simple. Charlie is simply the last kid on the tour (and by far the kindest and best behaved) so he wins!

What a fantastic novel to read aloud to my kids! We enjoyed our adventure with Charlie in Mr Wonka’s chocolate factory. I would like to read book two to my kids. But I don’t remember the details of it very well (except that the grandparents all turn into babies at one point) so I may need to read that again before we do that.

Since finishing this novel, we have also read aloud Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White and loved it as well. I highly recommend both as read alouds for young audiences. Regardless of your kids ages, I can’t speak highly enough of reading aloud to them! Find books that your family loves and start reading together.

What is your favorite Roald Dahl book? What are some of your favorite read alouds with the kids in your life?

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl Review

Illustrated by Quentin Blake

I may have not found a Golden Ticket to a sweet factory filled with wonder and delicious chocolate, but I have found the next best thing and have just finished reading the delightful classic children’s story Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl .

Charlie and the Chocolate is the first book of two in the Charlie Bucket series.

Charlie Bucket is a sweet and kind boy who lives in a house with his parents and both sets of grandparents. They are a very poor family, but a very loving one. As their house isn’t very big, all four grandparents sleep in one room and all in the same bed. With only one income, Mr Bucket works in the toothpaste factory screwing lids onto tubes of toothpaste, and with seven mouths to feed their meals consist of lots of cabbage – imagine the putrid smells that must come from that house! (I’m glad that this isn’t a scratch and sniff book!)

Charlie lives in a town where the world’s largest, and most famous, chocolate factory is, you all know what it is – Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. Charlie craved chocolate but as his family couldn’t afford luxuries, he had chocolate once a year on his birthday.

Wonka’s Factory is a secretive place, no employees are ever seen going in … or out! So when Willy Wonka places an advert in the paper announcing that 5 Golden Tickets have been placed in random chocolate bars to be won by 5 lucky winners, Charlie is hoping that with his birthday approaching he will be one of the lucky winners. Unfortunately, he wasn’t that lucky. But his luck eventually changes, and he wins the last of the 5 Golden Tickets to visit the mysterious and magical chocolate factory of Willy Wonka. Along with four other children, Augustus Gloop – a glutton for chocolate, Veruca Salt – a spoiled and selfish brat, Violet Beauregarde – a repulsive gum-chewer and Mike Teavee – a television fiend, they embark on a whimsical adventure full of surprises, dangers, and wonders.

Overall, this is a fantastic story, full of imagination and humour. A story of a wonderous trip around a sweet factory with chocolate rivers, lakes and waterfalls, edible grass and trees, flowers and bushes. Then there is the factory staff, the happy singing and dancing Oompa-Loopas from Loompaland, and that’s just the beginning. As readers salivate as they read through the pages of delicious sounding sweets and treats it is also a story that teaches some very important lessons about greed, selfishness, kindness and everybody getting exactly what they deserve.

As it is a Dahl story, it is packed with his unique dark humour and Gobblefunk language that has some excellent words such as Hornswogglers, Snozzwanglers and Wangdoodles. His writing is witty, funny and very engaging.

The characters are great, a mixture of loveable and loathsome and of course the very colourful and eccentric Willy Wonka himself. Willy Wonka can be quite rude at times; he has no time for people with bad manners or bad behaviour.

The chapters are a good length for young readers, keeping their interest and enjoyment.

As usual, the book is illustrated by the wonderful Quentin Blake. The illustrations are charming and add to the fun of the story.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a fun fantasy story with some excellent messages around greed and selfishness as well as kindness. I can highly recommend this book to anyone who loves chocolate, fantasy, or just a good fun read. This is a book that can be enjoyed by children and adults alike. At nearly 60 years old (it was first published in 1964), the fact that children are still enjoying the story today shows just how timeless and fun it is.

Rating: 5/5

RRP: £9.99 (Paperback) / £4.99 (Kindle)

For more information, visit www.roalddahl.com . Available to buy from Amazon here .

DISCLOSURE: All thoughts and opinions are my own. This review uses an affiliate link which I may receive a small commission from if you purchase through the link.

Click here to read more reviews of books by Roald Dahl

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Charlie and the Chocolate Factory book review

charlie and the chocolate factory book cover

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, like several of Roald Dahl’s other works , has become a modern classic. Though I have not seen either of the two major motion pictures based on this book, it is the sort of whimsical, imaginative, wild romp that I’m sure would translate well into the big screen.

A sweet little story

The protagonist of the tale is Charlie, an undernourished, impoverished, but noble boy who walks by the Chocolate Factory every day dreaming of what is inside. Charlie is a real treat for the reader. We’re told early on that he is “the hero,” and he more than lives up to his billing. He makes right choice after right choice, always thinking of others, and feeling compassion even for other characters who get what they have coming to them. Dahl is shameless about how wonderful Charlie is, but we don’t mind. It’s so rare to see a hero this pure and worthy in modern fiction.

As wonderful as Charlie is, the main attraction of the story is actually Willy Wonka, the owner of the titular Chocolate Factory. Here Dahl outdoes himself in creating an iconic, memorable character. If there were an award for strangest character in fiction , he would certainly be in the running. From his garish clothing, to his seeming obliviousness to anyone who thinks him odd, to his indifference to the well-being of the other children who, along with Charlie, win one of the golden tickets to be able to tour his factory (but who, unlike him are spoiled brats), Wonka clearly lives up to the word which his name closely resembles.

Silly songs that are not all that silly

Another of the delights of this story are the Oompa Loompas, who run the factory for Willy Wonka. These tiny little imps who work for cocoa beans can get so silly at times it’s a wonder any chocolate ever gets made at Wonka’s factory.

They also love to break out in song, particularly when one of Charlie’s bratty tour mates falls in a river of chocolate or eats something they should not have. At first these songs seem to be just for laughs, and maybe even a little cruel, but as the story goes on, it becomes clear that they serve a dual purpose.

Each of the children besides Charlie represents a particular kind of child with a particular kind of vice for which Dahl takes aim with his pen. He even comes out and tells us what they’re like before we even meet them:

Augustus Gloop, an enormously fat boy whose hobby is eating; Veruca Salt, a spoiled-rotten brat whose parents are wrapped around her little finger; Violet Beauregarde, a dim-witted gum-chewer with the fastest jaws around; Mike Teavee, a toy pistol-toting gangster-in-training who is obsessed with television.

How’s that for telling and not showing! Ha! I can see all the editors just shaking their heads.

Music to every author’s ears

I could go on and on about just how enjoyable a read this. Instead, I’ll leave you with Mike Teavee’s Oompa Loompa song in its entirety. I don’t usually quote long passages like this for reviews, but it’s just that good. I think I read it three or four times. Like one of Wonka’s everlasting gobstoppers, it never loses its taste. Enjoy!

The most important thing we’ve learned, So far as children are concerned, Is never, NEVER, NEVER let Them near your television set– Or better still, just don’t install The idiotic thing at all. In almost every house we’ve been, We’ve watched them gaping at the screen. They loll and slop and lounge about, And stare until their eyes pop out. (Last week in someone’s place we saw A dozen eyeballs on the floor.) They sit and stare and stare and sit Until they’re hypnotised by it, Until they’re absolutely drunk With all the shocking ghastly junk. Oh yes, we know it keeps them still, They don’t climb out the window sill, They never fight or kick or punch, They leave you free to cook the lunch And wash the dishes in the sink– But did you ever stop to think, To wonder just exactly what This does to your beloved tot? IT ROTS THE SENSES IN THE HEAD! IT KILLS IMAGINATION DEAD! IT CLOGS AND CLUTTERS UP THE MIND! IT MAKES A CHILD SO DULL AND BLIND HE CAN NO LONGER UNDERSTAND A FANTASY, A FAIRYLAND! HIS BRAIN BECOMES AS SOFT AS CHEESE! HIS POWERS OF THINKING RUST AND FREEZE! HE CANNOT THINK–HE ONLY SEES! ‘All right!’ you’ll cry. ‘All right!’ you’ll say, ‘But if we take the set away, What shall we do to entertain Our darling children? Please explain!’ We’ll answer this by asking you, ‘What used the darling ones to do? ‘How used they keep themselves contented Before this monster was invented?’ Have you forgotten? Don’t you know? We’ll say it very loud and slow: THEY…USED…TO…READ! They’d READ and READ, AND READ and READ, and then proceed To READ some more. Great Scott! Gadzooks! One half their lives was reading books! The nursery shelves held books galore! Books cluttered up the nursery floor! And in the bedroom, by the bed, More books were waiting to be read! Such wondrous, fine, fantastic tales Of dragons, gypsies, queens, and whales And treasure isles, and distant shores Where smugglers rowed with muffled oars, And pirates wearing purple pants, And sailing ships and elephants, And cannibals crouching ’round the pot, Stirring away at something hot. (It smells so good, what can it be? Good gracious, it’s Penelope.) The younger ones had Beatrix Potter With Mr. Tod, the dirty rotter, And Squirrel Nutkin, Pigling Bland, And Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and– Just How The Camel Got His Hump, And How The Monkey Lost His Rump, And Mr. Toad, and bless my soul, There’s Mr. Rat and Mr. Mole– Oh, books, what books they used to know, Those children living long ago! 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, Ignoring all the dirty looks, The screams and yells, the bites and kicks, And children hitting you with sticks– Fear not, because we promise you That, in about a week or two Of having nothing else to do, They’ll now begin to feel the need Of having something good to read. And once they start–oh boy, oh boy! You watch the slowly growing joy That fills their hearts. They’ll grow so keen They’ll wonder what they’d ever seen In that ridiculous machine, That nauseating, foul, unclean, Repulsive television screen! And later, each and every kid Will love you more for what you did. P.S. Regarding Mike Teavee, We very much regret that we Shall simply have to wait and see If we can get him back his height. But if we can’t–it serves him right.

Huzzah! They…used…to…read!

Don’t be like Mike Teavee.

2 thoughts on “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory book review”

I… do not believe I have ever actually read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

I saw the old movie when I was… oh… maybe six or seven and it terrified the stuffing out of me. I had nightmares for weeks. I can’t watch it ever again, even though now I would probably find it less horrifying and far more cheesy. I did see the new version, which was… interesting.

I did read the sequel: Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, multiple times as a kid, because we owned it and my dad always said he liked it better than the first one.

Oh, my, I never thought about the scary aspect. I guess the bad children do end up in some rather horrible predicaments. From the tone, it was clear to me reading it that no permanent harm would be done, but perhaps younger minds might not feel the same way. Definitely something to consider.

Interesting that there is a second book. I did not know that. I may have to check that one out as well. Charlie would definitely be worth reading more about!