Dave's book review for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

According to my reading journal, the last time I read this aloud was to my eldest in 2019, so the memory is fresh enough that I knew exactly what to expect. This book just hooks kids from the very first sentence. Dahl really had a genius for that.

I love how it plays fast and loose with reality in a way that keeps the story moving without ungrounding itself entirely (the sequel, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, which we read in 2019, did not remain grounded and I remember us not really enjoying it). I guess there’s a fine line between the right amount of nonsense and too much nonsense.

It’s fun to do the voices for the characters, though I was pushed to my acting limits doing four different grandparent voices during the early chapters! Dahl is careful to state who is speaking each line, which is helpful for knowing which voice to do, but also a real mouthful to get out with something like , "said Grandpa George," after each snippet of dialog in a sequence of 20 snippets.

Anyway, this is a classic for a reason.

Writing this review reminds me that we own both the Gene Wilder Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) and the Johnny Depp Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) on disc and we’re due for a watching. For that matter, we have The BFG (2016), which we read recently. Sounds like it’s movie night at our house!