Quill Junior: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

The book I am introducing is called Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The book is written by Roald Dahl and illustrated by Quentin Blake. The main characters are Charlie, the future owner of the chocolate factory, Augustus Gloop, an extremely greedy boy, Veruca Salt, a girl who is spoilt by her parents, Violet Bearugarde, a girl who chews gum all day, Mike Teavee, and  Mr Willi Wonka, the silly chocolate factory owner. Other characters are Charlie’s grandparents and the oompaloompas.

 This story is about Charlie, a poor boy who lives with his grandparents and his parents in a small, dilapidated wooden house. One day, Mr Willi Wonka, the owner of the chocolate factory, places 5 golden tickets into 5 chocolate wrappers. The children, who find the tickets in the chocolate which they have bought, will get to enter the chocolate factory and will also be given the privilege to have a life-time amount of sweets. Sadly, all the children besides Charlie are greedy and take their wealth for granted. Days went by and the children enter the factory! The tour has many different rooms but there are traps all over as well. Will they be able to make it through safely?

My favourite character in the story is Charlie as he is very poor but yet humble and kind-hearted. He is also not as greedy as the other children and we should learn his good ways from him. His splendid character helps him to stay safe and sound during the trip in the factory and he is also highly praised by Mr Willi Wonka. He always listens to Willi Wonka’s instructions, unlike the other children who fall into the various traps. My least favourite character is Mr Willi Wonka as he is always joking around. I feel that, he should pay more attention to the children and try to stop the children from misbehaving. I also feel that he is too strict with the oompaloompas, his assistants as he keeps ordering them to help him in everything such as making his inventions well as helping the children when they are in need of help. I think he should be more responsible and not leave all the work to them.

I like the book as it is interesting and sometimes funny which captures my attention, making me want to continue reading it. In my opinion, the best part of the story is where the old people tell Charlie stories for half an hour every night as they are very wise and can help Charlie widen his general knowledge. This will also be a very good time for them to bond with each other and when they do this, they will often forget that they are hungry and tired, making them happier. I think we should bond with old people just like Charlie as they are lonely and need a companion. The part of the story I don’t like is the made up words like oompaloompas which are very difficult to read and the drawings are very messy and I prefer it to be more realistic. I did not like the part where Grandpa Joe, one of his grandparents gave him a coin to buy a bar of chocolate and did not inform Charlie’s parents about it. Chocolates are very unhealthy and they should not use their money on such things. Instead, they should use it to buy nutritious food for the family.

I like the ending where the whole trip has ended and Augustus turned from fat to thin, Violet was de-juiced after eating a chewing gum which was not ready but her body was still purple. Veruca and her parents were covered with rubbish after they went down a rubbish chute; Mike shrank but turned tall and skinny when Mr Willi Wonka tried to help him. Charlie, on the other hand, listen to Mr Willi Wonka and went through the tour safely. Mr Willi Wonka wants Charlie to take over the factory when he dies. In the meantime, his family are welcomed to stay in the factory. I hope that the children will learn from this incident.  The message of this story is to be kind to others and others will be kind to you. I also learn to be grateful for what I have and not take it for granted.

GatheringBooks Quill Junior Contributor: Koh Kay Lyn

Pei Hwa Presbyterian Primary School

Age: 11