a Great story. Roald Dahl was a fantastic writer! This book is a must read for everyone of all ages!

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Do you like chocolate ? I'm sure there's not many who don't, but could you imagine only being able to buy one tiny bar of chocolate a year and then making it last as long as you could ? Of course not, in fact I'm not sure if I could make one giant bar last longer than 5 minutes, gannet that I am !!!! Well the hero of Roald Dahl's best childrens fantasy (as far as I'm concerned) had to do just that !!

Charlie Bucket lives with his two, elderly, frail, sets of grandparents and his Mum and Dad in a tiny, wooden shack on the outskirts of a large town. They are extremely poor, they live on mainly boiled potatoes and cabbage...yeeuk..so probably pens and inks a little in there !! Charlie longs for chocolate every day, this is made worse for him as he lives very close to an enormous chocolate factory. This must be torture for the little boy as he can smell chocolate every day, all day.....would be torture for me too, as would be living next to a 'Chinese takeaway ( I love Peking Duck) !

You immediately warm to the Bucket family, as they struggle to make ends meet, they don't complain but are full of love for little Charlie and you know that, if they could, they would give him anything he wanted. Roald Dahl's descriptions of each family member is fabulous, and you can picture each and every one of them in your minds as real people, in particular the frail, bony, skeletal grandparents ! Grandpa Joe thrills Charlie with his wonderful stories, and in turn, Grandpa is thrilled to see the little boy's eyes alight when he hears his stories, none more so when he tells him the story behind the strange man, Willy Wonka, who is the reclusive owner of the chocolate factory, noone ever sees the workers or Mr Wonka himself.

Then, a week before Charlie's birthday, an announcement in the local paper states that the factory is going to reopen, and that 5 lucky children will have the opportunity to have a magical tour of the factory, however, they first have to find the special golden tickets hidden in special bars of Wonka's chocolate !!!!

Of course, if Charlie didn't find a ticket, then there wouldn't be a story, and the only time Charlie can ever afford a bar of chocolate is on his birthday. Well he does find a ticket, not quite in the way that you would think, however you will have to read the book to find out how. Charlie presents his ticket to his family and it is decided that Grandpa Joe should be the one to accompany him on the tour, I am glad about this, as I have warmed to the gentle old man, and, caught up in the story, (as you will be too) I know he will have the time of his life.

And that is where the story really begins....Charlie and Grandpa Joe, along with the other four children, embark on a truly magical and fascinating mystery tour. Dahl's description of the children and Willy Wonka are amazing. Each of the four other children have their own individual , and somewhat detestable, traits and Mr Wonka really is the strangest, most extraordinary little man.

Roald Dahl has excelled in choosing the children's names, you will meet, Augustus Gloop (greedy), Veruca Salt (spoiled), Violet Beauregarde (Loves chewing gum..allday) and Mike Teavee (watches TV constantly).You will also meet the strange workers of the factory..the OOmpa Loompas, who I personally think are hilarious, they are always making up songs about the children and the various mishaps that befall them throughout the tour.

You will, as I was, be totally caught up in the strange and fascinating workings of the factory, which is really a glorified theme park, but the theme , here, is chocolate, Wonka has invented some amazing sweets with magical properties ( so you will also, like me, I'm sure, be salivating at the mouth), it would be a good idea to have a stock of choccies on hand whilst reading this.

The book is fabulously illustrated, thoughout, by Quentin Blake, with scrawling, cartoon like, pen drawings, totally in keeping with the theme.The print is large and easily readable and the whole book is not overly long (190 pages in all).

I will leave you to make your own mind up about this, however I loved it when I was a child and I love it now. I would say this would appeal to anyone from the age of 7 to 99, although the actual age group it is aimed at is 7 to 14. My son has now read this four times and he is 9.

It is said that Roald Dahl found this to be the most difficult story to write, indeed, he presented his first draft to his nephew, Nicholas, to read. Nicholas declared it to be 'rotten and boring', so Dahl had to completely re-write it.

I am jolly glad he did.

Published by Penguin books

We bought ours for 5.99 GBP available from most book shops incl WHSmiths

For a closer look at Roald Dahl's world www.roaldahl.com

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory rox my sox !! from skivs