Book Review 6 - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

[Nadima]

This fictional tale is a story of a truly respectful child named Charlie Bucket, who comes from disadvantaged background. He really wishes to win one of Willy Wonka’s golden tickets, which are hidden inside give chocolate bars. The lucky person that finds the golden ticket gains entry to Willy Wonka’s factory and receives a lifetime supply of sweets. Fortunately, Charlie happens to be the lucky one to discover one out of the five tickets and so gets his entry to the chocolate factory.

This story comprises of what is needed in order to complete a fairytale, particularly as there is the good, the bad, and the evil. Willy Wonka reveals the immoralities of the other contestants and how good of a person Charlie is. The others are greedy. However, Charlie’s innermost strength sees him through a successful ending as he wins. This amusing, yet gloomy tale has a message of how being a good person leads to success and no matter what extent the bad goes to, the good will always win.

All in all, I would highly recommend this book for key stage two pupils for literacy as the writing style used by Dahl would be of great help in allowing students to develop a writing style of their own, such as using literary devices like similes as Dahl has done. The story can also be used by teachers to emphasize that good behaviour leads to rewards, whereas bad behaviour leads to sanctions. Furthermore, this story can be incorporated into Geography to give children knowledge about poverty around the world through Charlie’s experience, alongside the origins of chocolate, thus this book is one that can be studied across various subjects.