Inside Jacket

I grew up not reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl but rather watching the Gene Wilder movie.  I loved it!  I watched it over and over.   When they announced the new movie directed by Tim Burton and starring Johny Depp you can’t imagine the kind of excitement (and nervousness – will they do it right?) that  was created in our house.  To say that my husband is both a Burton and a Depp fan is putting it mildly.  They are both highly influential artists for my husband.  And we are happy to say that we were not disappointed.

So I decided that it was high time that I actually read the book.  And I must admit that there was no way that I could read the book without the movies influencing me.  I was constantly comparing them to each other and taking note of how both movies adapted the book to screen.  So I feel like I have now come full circle and finally discovered the words that inspired both movies.

Do I even need to summarize?  The infamous Willy Wonka hasn’t shown his face in years and is opening his factory to five lucky children for a tour and a promise of something grand and wonderful to one of them.  Augustus Gloop, Veruca Salt, Violet Beauregarde, Mike Teavee and Charlie Bucket (how could you forget those names?) all get more than they bargained for in Wonka’s wild and crazy factory.

I found Charlie and the Chocolate Factory delightful.  Dahl is a master storyteller and the book was fun to read.  I did find that although the book was short, I found myself unable to read it straight through.  Not sure why I needed little breaks from the narration.   It’s a perfect book to read-a-loud as a family or one-on-one with younger kids.  It’s fast paced and funny.  A story for everybody of all ages to enjoy.

As soon as I finished, I had to put in the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Johnny Depp version) movie and and have it playing now.  This review is taking me forever because I keep watching the movie instead.  I’m not going to go into a movie critique  at all.  Suffice it to say that there are noticeable differences in both movies from the book which I think make both stories better.  It’s fun to see which dialogue they’ve changed and what they’ve kept especially has I have the book fresh in my mind.

And to prove just how influential this story is in our household, check out these family photos from about three years ago:

Can I just mention that I sewed that vest?  Because I don’t sew.  So I was  impressed with myself.  And for those who will ask (because they always do) – yes, that is my husband’s real  hair.

I read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl as part of Banned Books Week.  In 1988, a Colorado librarian placed the book in a locked vault because she thought that it espoused a poor philosophy of life.  I would highly recommend reading this essay entitled Charlie and the Political Correctness Factory which I found very enlightening about how Dahl changed some of his text after it was printed and the changes made in the movie.

Links of interest:  Roald Dahl website.  Other Maw Books reviews: James and the Giant Peach (which I reviewed last year for Banned Books Week),  The Witches and yesterday’s post about the Mike Teavee song lyrics (where I ask which movie you liked better).
Genre:  Juvenile Fiction.  Approx ages 9-12.
Publisher:   Puffin.  June 1998.  Originally published 1964.
Paperback, 176 pages.  ISBN 0141301155
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson, a 1979 Newbery Honor, is such a sweet book with wonderfully sweet characters.  Gilly Hopkins is going to stay with me for a long time.   Gilly’s transformation that takes place between the opening and closing pages of this book is bittersweet.  I felt happy and sad for her at the same time.  Stories about foster children always tug at the heartstrings and this one was no exception.

Gilly has been bouncing around in foster care homes for as long as she can remember.  She has a rough exterior and she won’t allow herself to get close to anybody.  Because what’s the point?  She’ll just be gone soon anyways.  But she’s smart and bright.  She does well in school just to prove everybody wrong and at the height of her success she purposely stops trying.  She feeds off of being able to control her surroundings and being able to manipulate those around her.

Gilly is in yet another new home.  One that she obviously will not tolerate.  How could she with  Maime Trotter, her obese foster mother, her new brother William Ernest who cowers at the slightest look in his direction, and the blind man next door who loves poetry – but that’s not the worst of it – he’s black too.  Gilly carries around a photo of her mother Courtney and knows that one day she will come and get her.  But when she finds herself beginning to care about her new family, she realizes that she better abandon them before they abandon her and she devises her own escape.

Gilly begins as a little girl with many prejudices and a rough exterior that she won’t let anybody through, as well as a heart that doesn’t want to be broken again.  She only wants one thing and that’s to be wanted.  But it’s the one person that she wants the most that doesn’t want her in return.  And when the chance comes will she realize that she was only chasing a dream?

A beautiful story about breaking through walls and the softening of the heart.  I highly recommend it.

I read The Great Gilly Hopkins as part of  Banned Books Week (I’m reading one banned book a day) and it was in the top 25 of most often challenged books from 1990-2000.  And to tell you the truth, it felt pretty obvious while I was reading what some parents would find offense about.  This includes Gilly’s language particularly the use of the words “damn” and “hell.”   But she is always reprimanded for it, she knows it’s wrong and the language is specifically used to illustrate the background that Gilly came from and how she changes.   Her character simply wouldn’t be the same without it.  Another reason is that Gilly is prejudice against her black school teacher and her black next-door neighbor Mr. Randolph.  Although Gilly doesn’t think much of them, both characters are portrayed in nothing but the best light.  At the end of the book, both are people who Gilly love dearly.  It’s an example of how prejudices are overcome once you actually get to know somebody.  And really, that’s something that is supposed to be wrong?  Hmmm . . . she also steals money.  So that could be another reason.  A ridiculous one at that.  (Edited to add – I found it ridiculous because she was made to return the amount and pay it off by doing chores).   SmallWorld Reads has some great commentary over at her blog about Gilly’s language that is worth checking out.

All valid reasons for having a parent know what their children are reading so they can discuss things like how words can effect people or prejudices are wrong.  I think it’s sad that somebody would rather try to remove it from a library’s collection instead of using the opportunity to engage their child with meaningful dialogue and teachable moments.

Links of interest:  Katherine Paterson website.  Other Paterson books reviewed by Maw Books:  A Midnight Clear, Selected Christmas Stories, Bridge to Terabithia (often challenged as well).
Genre:  Juvenile Fiction, approx ages 9-12.
Publisher:  Harper Collins.  June 1987.  (Copy I read and cover shown here is from Scholastic reprint 1995)
Paperback, 160 pages. ISBN 0064402010
The Great Gilly Hopkins is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon

I recently told a friend that I had begun reading The Magicians by Lev Grossman and he replied "Do let me know what you think of the book, from your perspective not steeped in
sf/fantasy." He's right. I typically . . . mostly . . . alright 98% of the time cannot stand sci-fi/fantasy. That's most evident when sheer panic arises when I'm approached by a customer and asked to recommend something from that section. I tried reading the first Harry Potter. I really did. It just wasn't for me. Actually, I'm so resistant to those genres (they are two separate ones, correct? Kidding! I'm kidding! I think.) that when my friend introduced even the possibility of The Magicians being fantasy, my opinion changed. Do I really want to read this? Even as I carry on through the book, I find myself asking, "Is this too much fantasy for me? Am I getting my usual sci-fi/fantasy heebie-jeebies?" To be fair, though (perhaps I need to whisper this): I am enjoying the book. There, I said it. I AM ENJOYING THE MAGICIANS!  Actually, I'm finding myself as intrigued with the story as I was while reading The Secret History (now THERE'S an amazing book!) This inner conflict ("I hate this genre, but I like this book") has me thinking–what have I missed out on by closing myself off from certain types of books? What amazing pieces of writing exist that, simply because of a dragon or perhaps a robot alien thingy on the cover, I have overlooked? I mean, perhaps I don't need to delve into The Wheel of Time series, but maybe it wouldn't hurt to check out American Gods. Don't hold me to that, though. I'm not ready to commit. I mean, I love zombie reads. That counts for something, right? But my endeavor with The Magicians does beg the question: What have I been missing? And really, I suppose, the same could be asked of you.

–Lindsey