by Roald Dahl
My son crawled next to me in bed last night for an hour of reading. I am finishing In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson and he is reading Mines of the Minotaur, the 3rd in the companion quartet, by Julie Golding. As we lay there in our little house, I had a flicker of the image of Charlie's Grandparents, all four, sleeping in the middle of the small but, loving home created for them by Roald Dahl.
James and the Giant Peach (another novel by Dahl) is one of the first stories I remember my mom reading to me as a child, but I have to admit, I love Charlie more. His circumstances pull at my heart strings. The happiness that abounds in his small and rundown home gives me hope. I laugh and marvel at the wretched stereotypes who are the winners of the golden tickets-especially the t.v. crazed Mike-how prophetic! I am entertained by the queer and sometimes frightening Willie Wonka. But mostly, I love the warnings given by the um pa-lumpas.
This is a must read! And in this case, a must watch. The movie adaptations, Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, are both terrific.
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