Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is one of Roald Dahl's most famous and beloved stories. There have been two wonderful film versions made, and many people rate it as their favourite Dahl story. I've seen both the movies (quite a few times) and read the book twice, and while I liked the story well enough I didn't love reading the book that much. So recently (well actually last year - as I just found this post written languishing unpublished) when it came time to re-read the final of the six Dahl titles for my 1001 quest I was a bit hesitant, and not all that keen. But then I had the rather brilliant idea to listen to it instead. My Roald Dahl Audio Collection has James Bolam reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and he does a fine job of it, although I was secretly disappointed not to have the Eric Idle version.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is of course the story of Little Charlie Bucket, who lives with his parents and four grandparents in a two room house. The family are terribly poor, all trying to survive on the meagre wage that Charlie's father earns putting the tops on toothpaste tubes at the toothpaste factory. The family subsist on bread and margarine for breakfast, boiled potatoes and cabbage for lunch and watery cabbage soup for dinner. "Sundays were a bit better..... everyone could have a second helping." The Buckets saved up each year and Charlie is able to have a single chocolate bar on his birthday which he nibbles at and makes last for a few weeks.

The family follow the big news when Willy Wonka starts his competition to find five golden tickets that will allow each of the winners entry to his usually out of bounds factory on one special day only. Four impossibly named children win tickets - Augustus Gloop, Veruca Salt, Violet Beauregard and Mike Teavee. There is only one ticket left to win. It's no secret I suspect that Charlie finds that very last golden ticket. More than half the story is the action and delights when the five children and their parents, or grandfather Joe in Charlie's case, tour the factory.

And what a factory it is- the factory itself is a masterpiece of Dahl's imagination. That chocolate mixed by waterfall is the best chocolate in the world. The various rooms. The buttons on the Great Glass Elevator. Sugar-Coated Pencils for Sucking. Luminous Lollies for Eating in Bed at Night. Rainbow Drops -Suck Them and You can Spit in Six Different Colours. The Oompa-Loompas, how Willy Wonka rescued them from all the dangers of Oompa-Loompa Land- the snozzwangers and hornswogglers.

I was glad that I took the time to listen to the audio, it was a lovely experience. I then rematched the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory with Master Wicker. We should rewatch Charlie and the Chocolate Factory sometime soon.

RN did a great story about the Roald Dahl Museum to coincide with Roald Dahl Day last month (2016). Naturally it's rather high on my travel wish list.

Reading Well Mood Boosting Books

There's a few lists like this. This list was chosen by young people in the UK. Seems we all need to find some inspiration and solace in books sometimes. 

See also 31 Books That Will Restore Your Faith in Humanity


We Should All Be Feminists - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
A Bear Called Paddington - Michael Bond  (see my review)
Am I Normal Yet? - Holly Bourne

Bodyguard series - Chris Bradford
Finding Cherokee Brown - Siobhan Durham
Matilda - Roald Dahl
Milk and Honey - Rupi Kaur
More Than This - Patrick Ness
The Rest of Us Just Live Here - Patrick Ness
Wonder - R.J. Palacio (see my review)
Eleanor & Park - Rainbow Rowell
Harry Potter series - J.K Rowling 1/7
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe - Benjamin Alire Saenz
I Capture the Castle - Dodie Smith
This One Summer - Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki

Crongton Knights - Alex Wheatle
The Art of Being Normal - Lisa Williamson

3 1/7 of 27 (although I'm not really sure how many books make up the Harry Potter franchise these days, is it just the seven original novels? Or does the newer stuff count too?)

It's always amazing to see more books that I've never heard of. And a bit depressing really. But it should be mood boosting shouldn't it? Look at all these extra great books I've never heard of, but I'm sure I'm already well into the realm that I won't ever finish the books I want to read before I die.

Matilda & Me

Recently I got to watch Matilda & Me again, a fabulous documentary that I taped back in April 2016 I think. It's still languishing on my hard drive and I watched it again recently to make the ironing tolerable one night. Matilda & Me is the rather incredible story of how Tim Minchin came to write the musical Matilda, and was filmed in the lead up to the Australian opening of Matilda.

Matilda & Me was made by Tim's youngest sister Nel and it also is a chronicling of Tim's own story- starting with his childhood in Western Australia. He was the second of four children. 

"As a little kid I was very fat, but I also had allergies and terrible asthma and I was deaf as a post. Mum thought there was something wrong with me I think. "

He was a musical kid, in a musical family. They all put on family concerts frequently. Tim didn't do piano lessons after the age of 12, but always playing.

"It's not practice, it's curiosity"

He still always wants to be the best at everything. 

"I'm 40 and I practice handstands"

Tim Minchin had an early love of Roald Dahl and remembers receiving The BFG one Christmas as a child, and that his sister got Matilda. At 25 he actually approached the Roald Dahl Estate asking to be able to write a musical based on Matilda. He backed away when they asked for a sample of his score as he couldn't read or write music!

Tim then kept working at his craft, progressing to his comedic act. He came to notice after performing at Edinburgh in 2005. So much so that in 2008 the Royal Shakespeare Company approached him to compose the musical Matilda. And history was made.

"Matilda the musical absolutely is a reflection of my obsession with putting lots and lots of words into a short space of time in order to criticise everyone"

Matilda is such a fabulous show, which I was lucky enough to see it in Sydney and Melbourne in the past year or so. Matilda & Me documents the rehearsals prior to the Australian opening. 

"Almost certainly the biggest child role that exists and the most sophisticated"

There's a great series of Behind the Scenes Extras available on youtube. In Episode 1 it's fascinating to watch the four young Matildas as they rehearse and do boxing training in preparation for their roles. 

Episode 2 is a great mini documentary on Roald Dahl, his writing practice and his life. 

A Year in Books 2016

Yes, yes, I know that's it's nearly half way through 2017 already, but I haven't had a chance to look back at my 2016 reading just yet.

I had a bad reading year last year. I only read 79 books. 11, 075 pages. Almost half the 20, 061 pages I read in 2015.

And I was really bad at rating the books I actually did read on goodreads last year too. If I'd done more ratings I think there'd be more books here. Still I managed to give 7 books 5 stars.

Reckoning. An extraordinary memoir from Magda Szubanski.

The Minpins. A re-read of one of my very favourite Dahls.

Cyclone. Jackie French's retelling of Cyclone Tracy for a new generation.

The Anti-Cool Girl. Is actually a cool book.

And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda. A powerful anti-war ballad.

The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen 83 1/4 Years Old. Oh so naughty grandparents in a Dutch nursing home.

Charlie and the War against the Grannies. A silly, funny debut from Alan Brough.

7 out of my 79 reads were five stars.

3 Aussie books

3 Adults reads

3 Picture books

2 Nonfiction/memoir

3 Female authors

4 Male authors

5 New to me authors

Rather predictable to have Roald Dahl and Jackie French make an appearance I suppose. Lets hope it's a better reading this year, although I'm already 8 books behind my goodreads target! And it's still February...

List Challenge's Banned Children's Book List

Oh I just love this list! It's perfect for Banned Books Week which has just finished. And competitive reader me loved that with my score of 25/60 I came 171st of 956 readers when I took the quiz last week. I wish it was more, I have come perilously close to reading more of these books. Quite a few are sitting waiting, unread, in my house. 

Where the Wild Things Are - Maurice Sendak

The Giving Tree - Shel Silverstein

Charlotte's Web - E.B. White

Bridge to Terabithia - Katherine Paterson

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark - Alvin Schwartz

In the Night Kitchen - Maurice Sendak

The Great Gilly Hopkins - Katherine Paterson

Olive's Ocean - Kevin Henkes

Julie of the Wolves - Jean Craighead George

Little House on the Prairie - Laura Ingalls Wilder

Harriet the Spy - Louise Fitzhugh (see my review)

The Diary of a Young Girl  - Anne Frank (see my review)

A Light in the Attic - Shel Silverstein

Where the Sidewalk Ends - Shel Silverstein

Are you there God? It's Me, Margaret - Judy Blume (see my review)

My Brother Sam is Dead - James Lincoln Collier & Christopher Collier

The Chocolate War - Robert Cormier (see my review)

The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963 - Christopher Paul Curtis

James and the Giant Peach - Roald Dahl (see my review)

The Witches - Roald Dahl (see my review)

If I Ran the Zoo - Dr Seuss

Where's Waldo/Wally - Martin Handford

A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L'Engle (see my review)

The Giver - Lois Lowry (see my review)

The Adventures of Captain Underpants - Dav Pilkey

Heather Has Two Mommies - Leslea Newman, Diana Souza (illustrator)

And Tango Makes Three - Peter Parnell & Justin Richardson (see my review)

Junie B. Jones - Barbara Park

His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's/Sorcerers Stone - J.K. Rowling

Bone - Jeff Smith

Goosebumps - R.L. Stine

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry - Mildred Taylor (see my review)

Drama - Raina Telgemeier (see my review)

Dragonwings - Laurence Yep

Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging - Louise Rennison

The Rabbit's Wedding - Garth Williams

Shooter - Walter Dean Myers

The Fighting Ground - Avi

Shade's Children - Garth Nix

The Upstairs Room - Johnna Reiss

To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee

The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis

Speak - Laurie Halse Anderson

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian - Sherman Alexie (see my review)

Go Ask Alice - Anonymous

Thirteen Reasons Why - Jay Asher

Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky (see my review)

Looking for Alaska - John Green

Two Boys Kissing - David Levithan

The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins (see my review)

Gossip Girl - Cecily von Ziegesar

Twilight - Stephanie Meyer

Prep - Curtis Sittenfeld

Ttyl - Lauren Myracle

The Earth, My Butt and Other BIG Round Things - Carolyn Mackler

Fallen Angels - Walter Dean Myers

The Face on the Milk Carton - Caroline B. Cooney

Forever ..... - Judy Blume

Draw Me a Star - Eric Carle

25/60

This list has the requisite books I've already read, books I want to read, and books I've never heard of (quite a few actually). I should go read one just to annoy some book banner types.

4 Children's Books That You Need to Re-Read As Adults

I'm rather surprised that this list is only four books long. Although it certainly gives me a fair chance of actually finishing it I suppose.

Many, many kids books hold up to rereading as an adult, and I generally agree with the inclusion of Dahl on any list. But this list is somewhat flawed. As far as I can tell The Heart and the Bottle, which I imagine is perfection, like all of Oliver Jeffers' work did only come out in 2010, so there aren't that many adults who would need to re-read it after they read it when they were a kid back in 2010.

The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

The Heart and the Bottle - Oliver Jeffers

Matilda - Roald Dahl

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood - Marjane Satrapi

2/4

I've read The Little Prince a few times now, and well, I'm sorry to say, French icon and all that it is- I just don't get it.

Roald Dahl Cover to Cover

I've just got home after an incredible week at the Melbourne Writers Festival 2016. MWF is still going actually, and due to finish tomorrow. As part of their final day they are celebrating Roald Dahl Day as part of the worldwide festivities this month to honour Roald Dahl 100. Roald Dahl was born in Cardiff on September 13, 1916. 

The Cover to Cover exhibition was displayed in Federation Square throughout the writers festival. It tells us that over 200 million Dahl books have been published in 59 languages! Some of those covers are shown in Cover to Cover. I couldn't recognise some of the languages. 

It looked cool lit up at night.
But was hard to photograph day and night. 

Most of them were easy to guess.
This one stumped me a bit.
The Witches in Hungarian.

Much easier in French. 

Saturday Snapshot is a wonderful weekly meme
 now hosted by WestMetroMommy

Kids Books to Keep Forever

The list this week comes from Mamamia recently. They had a podcast discussion of the toys and books that we should keep instead of throwing away. I love that they viewed it as an anti KonMari moment- I've just read the book and am working on my review. I did wonder about this sort of thing along the way, if you throw everything out what is left for the next generation?

Koala Lou - Mem Fox, Pamela Lofts (illustrator)

Possum Magic - Mem Fox, Julie Vivas (illustrator)

The BFG - Roald Dahl, Quentin Blake (illustrator)

The Poky Little Puppy - Janette Sebring Lowrey, Gustaf Tenggren (illustrator)

There's A Hippopotamus On Our Roof Eating Cake - Hazel Edwards, Deborah Niland (illustrator)

The Tiger Who Came To Tea - Judith Kerr

The Witches - Roald Dahl, Quentin Blake (illustrator) (see my review)

The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Eric Carle

The Complete Adventures Of Snuggle Pot and Cuddle Pie - May Gibbs

8/9

My best list result ever! I became rather excited when clicking through the list gallery on the website. Would I actually have read all the books? Tension built as each title came up, until the very last. I have seen a play of Snuggle Pot and Cuddle Pie and possibly read it as a child, or had it read to me, but I don't remember so it doesn't count. 

The BFG is one of my favourite Dahl's, and one of my favourite books ever. 

You're a Bad Man, Mr Gum

I came across Mr Gum back in May last year, in a fabulous list about Roald Dahl's enduring influence, a list created by Andy Griffiths. 

OK, his books aren't published in Australia, but I can't leave him off this list. Here are the first lines of his Roald Dahl Funny Prize-winning first book: "Mr Gum was a fierce old man with a red beard and two bloodshot eyes that stared out at you like an octopus curled up in a bad cave. He was a complete horror who hated children, animals, fun and corn on the cob. What he liked was snoozing in bed all day, being lonely and scowling at things."

Who could resist that? I liked the cover, so ordered it online straight away, and then got to reading it recently.

It is an awfully silly book, full of farts, general grossness and offal.

There was broken glass in the windows and the ancient carpet was the colour of unhappiness and smelt like a toilet. 

I loved the wonderful smeary pages making the book like it had just been removed from Mr Gum's house. 

You're a Bad Man, Mr Gum is the first in the Mr Gum series, there are at least eight Mr Gum books now. I'm sure they're all as grossly good as this one.

The 50 Children's Books That Should Be in Every Family Library

Every list is unique of course. This one from Good Housekeeping is an odd mix and appears to be in no particular order. Naturally, it's rather American.

As always the books I've read are in red.


1. Wonder - R.J. Palacio (see my review)

2. The Cat in the Hat - Dr. Seuss

3. An Awesome Book of Thanks - Dallas Clayton

4. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian - Sherman Alexie (see my review)

5. Dragons Love Tacos - Adam Rubin

6. If You Give A Mouse A Cookie - Laura Numeroff

7. The Book Thief - Markus Zusak

8. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day - Judith Viorst

9. The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky (see my review)

10. Looking for Alaska - John Green

11. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler - E.L. Konigsburg (see my review)

12. Bridge to Terabithia - Katherine Paterson

13. Busy, Busy Town - Richard Scarry

14. Tuck Everlasting - Natalie Babbitt (see my review)

15. Frog and Toad Are Friends - Arnold Lobel

16. The Dark is Rising - Susan Cooper

17. Eloise - Kay Thompson

18. The Complete Adventures of Curious George - Margaret and H.A. Rey

19. This is the World - M. Sasek

20. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon

21. The Brownstone - Paula Scher

22. The Circus Ship - Chris Van Dusen

23. Olivia - Ian Falconer

24. Dada - Jimmy Fallon

25. Where the Sidewalk Ends - Shel Silverstein

26. Beautiful Oops! - Barney Saltzberg

27. Wild - Emily Hughes

28. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett (see my review)

29. Zero - Kathryn Otoshi

30. Charlotte's Web - E.B. White 

31. Max the Brave - Ed Vere

32. Rosie Revere Engineer - Andrea Beaty

33. To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee

34. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl (see my review)

35. The Heart and the Bottle - Oliver Jeffers

36. Harriet the Spy - Louise Fitzhugh (see my review)

37. The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger

38. Home - Carson Ellis

39. The Day the Crayons Quit - Drew Daywalt

40. On A Beam Of Light - Jennifer Berne

41. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - L. Frank Baum

42. Llama Llama Red Pajama - Anna Dewdney

43. The Borrowers - Mary Norton (see my review)

44. Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing - Judy Blume

45. Press Here - Hervé Tullet

46. What Do You Do With An Idea? - Kobi Yamada

47. Of Thee I Sing - Barack Obama

48. Where The Wild Things Are - Maurice Sendak

49. Ramona Quimby, Age 8 - Beverly Cleary

50. Leo A Ghost Story - Mac Barnett

20/50

Always more inspiration.

June 2017 21/50