Book review of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

【Abstract】Children's literature， which includes stories， books， magazines， and poems， is especially vivid for children. This book review is about Charlie and the Chocolate Factory， a popular Children’s literature written by Roald Dahl. In the book review， I will briefly introduce information about the author and this novel. The book review also includes another three main parts： what happened in the whole story， which parts impressed me most in the book and the author’s writing skills of the book. Each part is to be given in detail. Examples are also contained to show why I think the book is readable， interesting and attractive.

【Key words】children's literature； choice of words； plot； suspense

【作者簡介】Liu Zhiyu， Soochow University School of Foreign Language.

This book review is about a famous children's book： Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The book was written by a well-known British author Roald Dahl. It is made up of five main parts， which are the information about the author， the background information， what happened in the story， what impressed me most in the book and the writing skills of the book. The following is a detailed explanation of each part.

The author， Roald Dahl， was a British novelist， short story writer， poet， screenwriter， and fighter pilot. He was born in Wales in 1916 and served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. After the War， he began writing novels for both children and adults. His books have sold more than 250 million copies worldwide， and Dahl was regarded as “one of the greatest storytellers for children of the 20th century”.He received many awards such as the 1983 World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement， and the British Book Awards’ Children’s Author of the Year in 1990. His works were adapted for films， such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory， Matilda， The BFG， etc.

The book， Charlie and the Chocolate Factory， first published in the USA in 1964， was inspired by Dahl’s feelings of chocolates produced by companies during his schooldays. A large chocolate shop was located near his school and would often send test packages to the schoolchildren in exchange for their opinions on the new products. Because of spies sent by its business competitors， the company became highly protective of their chocolate-making processes. It was a combination of this secrecy， the elaborate products and gigantic machines in the factory that inspired Dahl to write the story.

Now that the title of the book is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory， the story happened in a fantastic factory owned by Mr. Willy Wonka， a talented chocolate maker. Our main character， Charlie Bucket， a little chocolate-lover who was born in a poor family， together with his dearest Grandpa Joe， had the chance to visit Mr. Wonka’s chocolate factory. The other four lucky visitors were the gluttonous Augustus Gloop， the spoiled and petulant Veruca Salt， the gum-addicted Violet Beauregarde， and the TV-obsessed Mike Teavee and their parents. In the factory， they saw the secret workers： the Oompa-Loompas， which was brought to their country from Loompaland by Mr. Wonka. The machines in the factory were amazing， and Charlie admired Mr. Wonka for his great imagination. During their trip in the factory， the four naughty children failed to refuse the temptation， so they were punished in different ways. Augustus Gloop went up an enormous glass pipe and got suck up in the pipe for he was deaf to Mr. Wonka’s warning. The ambitious gum-chewing girl Violet Beauregarde grabbed the semi-finished chewing gum before Mr. Wonka and her mother could stop her， as a result， she was turning blue and blowing up like a balloon. Born in a rich family， Veruca Salt took the fact that she could always take what she wanted for granted， so she insisted on owning one of Mr. Wonka’s trained squirrel. After being refused by Mr. Wonka， she decided to get one by herself. However， Veruca was judged as a “bad nut” by the squirrels and was thrown down into the rubbish chute. Her parents were also punished in this way because they spoiled Veruca and held the view that money could deal with anything. Mike Teavee， the television-addicted boy， rushed into the amazing television set in the Television-Chocolate Room and claimed to be the first person sent by television. He finally came out unhurt and still in one piece， but he was shrunk. Since Charlie was the only child left， Mr. Wonka was glad to give his extraordinary factory to Charlie， and the factory was Charlie’s chocolate factory. That’s the plot of the whole story.

Before reading the book， I had thought that children’s books are somewhat na?ve， and I didn’t pay much attention to it when my teacher recommended it to me. However， when I immersed myself in reading it， I found the book was quite interesting and readable. In the following part of this book review， I would like to share the excerpt of this book which impressed me most.

What impressed me most is Mr. Wonka’s attitude towards the five children. First， he gave each of them a warm welcome， which seemed a little over-excited. When Augustus went up the pipe， he seemed to be indifferent. Perhaps it was because he knew the factory well and were sure that there was no danger waiting for Augustus. Besides， he was a businessman， so he cared much about his profit and products first. During the visit， he was impatient when he was disturbed by Veruca or Mike. Mr. Wonka always issued orders to his visitors， such as “Stand back！” and “Press on！”. When Mrs. Salt asked him to go lower， he said “Impossible！” It is hard to imagine that these were what a host said. They were all his guests anyhow！ However， his attitude towards Charlie was quite different from that towards the other four kids. He was kind to Charlie. He was also willing to answer Charlie’s questions. Charlie was the only child who was clever and could think in tune with Mr. Wonka， and his question was always on the point， so he deserved to be treated in a gentle way. It was Mr. Wonka’s characteristic that made him act differently. Because he was considered as a genius， he always felt smug about himself. He had a strong personality and couldn’t bear to be offended， so he got annoyed when Veruca was rude to him. He was also an egoist because he was isolated himself in this factory for a long time so that he cared less about others’ feelings.

After reading the whole book， there is still a question that troubles me. In the end， Charlie became the new owner of the factory because the other children failed to pass Mr. Wonka’s test， but what if Charlie himself was not a kind boy？ If Charlie himself was as naughty as Mike， or as rude as Veruca， how could Mr. Wonka give his factory to him only because he was the only one left？ From my perspective， the author’s purpose of writing the story was to tell children that only those who behaved well deserved a better future. That was why Charlie Bucket was a kind， brave， honest and modest boy. It is pleasant to see that the author gave us a happy ending.

Since Roald Dahl was a good storyteller， his stories are all attractive attributed to his fantastic way of writing. The main reason is that he likes to set up suspense. Suspense is a state of mental uncertainty， anxiety， of being undecided， or of being doubtful. At the end of almost every chapter， he set up suspense to stimulate the readers’ interest. For example， at the end of Chapter 19， when Mr. Wonka said that he would like to show them something that he was terrifically proud of， he said， “Do be careful！ Don’t knock everything over！ Stand back！” What was the great invention was still unknown， and readers could only find the answer in the next chapter.

He also used a lot of exclamation marks to affect our feelings. The characters were excited and we may feel excited unconsciously. In Chapter 12， when Charlie got a Golden Ticket and hurriedly went home， he shouted， “Mother！ Look！ I’ve got it！ The last Golden Ticket！ It’s mine！” To be honest， after reading these words， I was happy for Charlie from the bottom of my heart. The Oompa-Loompas’ songs about the four naughty children are thought-provoking. Take Augustus Gloop as an example， the Oompa-Loompas compared Augustus to “the great big greedy nincompoop”， “this beast”， “this pig”. It seems that the songs express the author’s own opinions. He scorned and laughed at the naughty children by letting the Oompa-Loompas sang the songs. Last but not least， his words were quite interesting and vivid， which made this book become “Top 100 books for children”. After Violet was blowing up like a balloon， Mr. Wonka just said that he could send Violet to the Juicing Room to squeeze the juice out of her immediately. How could a girl be squeezed？ That’s quite unusual and funny.

To sum up， Charlie and the chocolate factory is worth reading. The plot is dramatic， and the characters are vivid. It has almost 20 editions and has been translated into many languages. It is a book targeted not only on children， but also on adults. As the saying goes， “There are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand people’s eyes”. I believe you can have your own feeling after reading this book.

References：

[1]Roald Dahl：https：//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roald_Dahl[OL].

[2]Roald Dahl：https：//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roald_Dahl[OL].

[3]Charlie and the Chocolate Factory：https：//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_and_the_Chocolate_Factory[OL].

[4]Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary[J].Springfield：G.C. Merriam Company，1969.