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Roald Dahl was, by all accounts, a terrible human being.  But he's also the author of several marvelous books for kids, some good creepy short stories for adults and a couple really good memoirs.  He is best known for his great children's book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory made iconic by the classic schlocky movie version, Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

This is another one of those classics that has become so familiar that it is perhaps easy to lose sight of its pretty stern moral tone.  In addition to being generally obnoxious, all four of the other kids represent some bad habit of children:

    Augustus Gloomp: gluttony
    Verucka Salt: avarice and greed
    Violet Beauregarde: gum chewing
    Mike Teavee:  excess television viewing

The obnoxious children come to various horrible ends, each in keeping with his or her particular vice.  Meanwhile, it is the good child, Charlie Bucket, who is chosen to take over Wonka's business.

A very funny book that teaches simple yet valuable lessons.

(Reviewed:)

Grade: (A)


Websites:

See also:

Children's Books
Roald Dahl Links:

    -WIKIPEDIA: Roald Dahl
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-ESSAY: Bowdler’s Return: A publisher’s move to remove anything purportedly offensive from Roald Dahl’s books is the latest exhibit of an unfortunately timeless impulse. (Theodore Dalrymple, February 21, 2023, City Journal)
    -ESSAY: The BFG Isn’t a BFD: I’ve read Roald Dahl’s books to little kids for years. Let me tell you how that really goes. (IMOGEN WEST-KNIGHTS, FEB 23, 2023, Slate)
    -ESSAY: Roald Dahl and the Ethics of Art: The urge to censor is based on a misunderstanding of what makes literature valuable. (Iona Italia, 21 Feb 2023, Quillette)
    -ESSAY: Dahl Eraser: The vile purging of a dead author’s work by his rapacious estate. (Ryan Neely, February 2023, Splice Today)
    -ESSAY: Bowdler’s Return: A publisher’s move to remove anything purportedly offensive from Roald Dahl’s books is the latest exhibit of an unfortunately timeless impulse. (Theodore Dalrymple, February 21, 2023, City Journal)
    -ESSAY: Kindness can be cruel (Dominic Green, February 23, 2023, Washington Examiner)
    -ESSAY: The defiling of Roald Dahl: Rewriting past literature to make it conform to modern-day sensibilities is a species of tyranny (Brendan O'Neill, February 19, 2023, The Spectator)
    -ESSAY: Reading Roald Dahl in a dystopian world: His works are being censored decades after he might have disapproved (Alexander Larman, February 20, 2023, The Spectator)
    -ESSAY: Roald Dahl’s writing routine involved a shed, a sleeping bag, and cigarettes. (Corinne Segal, September 15, 2022, LitHub)
    -ESSAY: The dark heart of Roald Dahl: A streak of pure nastiness runs through the author’s anarchic, beloved children’s literature – just as it did through his life. (Anna Leszkiewicz, 12/07/22, New Statesman)
    -REVIEW: of Teller of the Unexpected: The Life of Roald Dahl, an Unofficial Biography by Matthew Dennison (Colin Burrow, London Review of Books)
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Book-related and General Links:
   
-ESSAY: Little Private Lives  on Children's books including Charlie ant the Chocalate Factory: (Margot Hentoff, NY review of Books)
    -REVIEW: of Children's Books including Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator (Alison Lurie, NY Review of Books)
    -Roald Dahl Home Page
    -James and the Giant Peach (Summary & Comments, Art and Entertainments Page)
    -Roald Dahl's Chocolate Factory
    -Roald Dahl Club
    -Roald Dahl His life - a short description
    -Roald Dahl's Short Stories on the web
    -Jeff Meaney's Roald Dahl Page
    -REVIEW: of Roald Dahl A Biography By Jeremy Treglown (MICHIKO KAKUTANI, NY Times)
    -REVIEW: of Roald Dahl A Biography By Jeremy Treglown    (Ann Hulbert, NY Times Book Review)
    -REVIEW: of     Roald Dahl: A Biography by Jeremy Treglown At the Heart of the Onion  (Claire Tomalin, NY Review of Books)
     -REVIEW: of MATILDA By Roald Dahl  (Vicki Weissman, NY Times Book Review)
     -REVIEW: of THE WITCHES By Roald Dahl (ERICA JONG, NY Times Book Review)
     -REVIEW: of GOING SOLO By Roald Dahl. (Gahan Wilson, NY Times Book Review)
     -REVIEW: of  BOY By Roald Dahl. (Hazel Rochman, NY Times Book Review)
    -ESSAY: The Children's Canon (Nicholas Von Hoffman, Civilization)