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I bought this book for my 8 year old daughter who had to have it for her 3rd grade reading/vocabulary assignment. The teacher wanted them to be able to highlight certain things in it so they had to have their own copy. My daughter liked the book and the school project.
The family suffers malnutrition and near starvation, with a diet based mostly on bread, potatoes, and cabbage. Wonka and produce the same kinds of delicious and whimsical sweets. Charlie's father supports this household with a low-pay position as an unskilled worker in a toothpaste factory, screwing caps onto toothpaste tubes all day. The reader meets Charlie Bucket and his parents and both sets of grandparents in the opening chapter, and quickly learns that this family lives in harsh conditions of poverty, with just one bed in a two-room wooden shack. Given the popularity of Roald Dahl's classic book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and of the 2005 Hollywood movie by the same name, few readers need a summary of the plotline and characters. This book makes a nice addition to most collections, including those used to teach lessons about poverty, competition, consumers, and producers. Earlier, "spies" had leaked secrets of his special production processes to competitors who then proceeded to copy Mr. Wonka decided to close his factory to all workers and other people.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory also teaches about consumers and how they respond to incentives by buying more or less of a product; in this case, news of the five golden tickets causes a surge in consumers' demand for Wonka chocolate bars. Also in contrast to Charlie's wretched living conditions is the presence of Willy Wonka's enormous chocolate factory within sight of his own house. However, less obvious are the valuable economics lessons interwoven throughout this beloved book. The process of producing chocolate and candies in a factory, and the natural resources used to make the products, are economics lessons that appear throughout the book. Once a year on his birthday, Charlie is given a chocolate bar, which he savors, morsel by morsel, over the course of an entire month.In contrast, the other four children who win golden tickets to visit Willy Wonka's chocolate factory do not know the meaning of scarcity as they come from families with varying degrees of wealth. The reader learns more valuable economics lessons from the tale of why Mr. Children may think they know the story of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but chances are they do not realize that they are getting a good dose of economics from start to finish.
This is a great story. I love the snarkiness of Willy Wonka and the Oompa-Loompas.
The first time I read this book I did not read this book, it was read to me in class in third grade.Our teacher had broken down the chapters so that they would fit a certain time frame and then would stop making us want to hear more and allso encourage us to read.So the book unfolded to us with a series of what would be called cliff hangers along the way. What would happen and when. Though it is obvous now based on the title that Charlie would find the special candy bar, back then it was not.I picked up the book again recently and it is still just as charming and fun as I remember. A definate classic children's book, and for younger children probably less scary than either of the two movies.High recommended.
We as adults have got to let kids read. My 11 year old tutee loved this book. She found interest with each of the characters, found the descriptions captivating, and read it very quickly. Most of the time, they don't even catch the subtle themes that we do. I recommend this book to everyone who wants to see the movies.
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