A fantastic classic! Who couldn't love this book? Full of sweets and crazy obstacles, this story provides a message but is also great just for entertainment value. While it is a child's book, I recommend it to every reader. There's enough in here to fascinate everyone.

Given the popularity of Roald Dahl's classic book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and of the 2005 Hollywood movie by the same name, few readers need a summary of the plotline and characters. However, less obvious are the valuable economics lessons interwoven throughout this beloved book. The reader meets Charlie Bucket and his parents and both sets of grandparents in the opening chapter, and quickly learns that this family lives in harsh conditions of poverty, with just one bed in a two-room wooden shack. Charlie's father supports this household with a low-pay position as an unskilled worker in a toothpaste factory, screwing caps onto toothpaste tubes all day. The family suffers malnutrition and near starvation, with a diet based mostly on bread, potatoes, and cabbage. Once a year on his birthday, Charlie is given a chocolate bar, which he savors, morsel by morsel, over the course of an entire month.

In contrast, the other four children who win golden tickets to visit Willy Wonka's chocolate factory do not know the meaning of scarcity as they come from families with varying degrees of wealth. Also in contrast to Charlie's wretched living conditions is the presence of Willy Wonka's enormous chocolate factory within sight of his own house. The reader learns more valuable economics lessons from the tale of why Mr. Wonka decided to close his factory to all workers and other people. Earlier, "spies" had leaked secrets of his special production processes to competitors who then proceeded to copy Mr. Wonka and produce the same kinds of delicious and whimsical sweets. The process of producing chocolate and candies in a factory, and the natural resources used to make the products, are economics lessons that appear throughout the book. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory also teaches about consumers and how they respond to incentives by buying more or less of a product; in this case, news of the five golden tickets causes a surge in consumers' demand for Wonka chocolate bars.

Children may think they know the story of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but chances are they do not realize that they are getting a good dose of economics from start to finish. This book makes a nice addition to most collections, including those used to teach lessons about poverty, competition, consumers, and producers.

This is a great story. I love the snarkiness of Willy Wonka and the Oompa-Loompas.

The first time I read this book I did not read this book, it was read to me in class in third grade.

Our teacher had broken down the chapters so that they would fit a certain time frame and then would stop making us want to hear more and allso encourage us to read.

So the book unfolded to us with a series of what would be called cliff hangers along the way. What would happen and when. Though it is obvous now based on the title that Charlie would find the special candy bar, back then it was not.

I picked up the book again recently and it is still just as charming and fun as I remember. A definate classic children's book, and for younger children probably less scary than either of the two movies.

High recommended.

My 11 year old tutee loved this book. She found interest with each of the characters, found the descriptions captivating, and read it very quickly. We as adults have got to let kids read. Most of the time, they don't even catch the subtle themes that we do. I recommend this book to everyone who wants to see the movies.

Excellent. Very stimulating for young imaginations.

The best book I read as a kid, and one of the few lengthy ones I could not put down. Certain to set your child's imagination ablaze with stunning imagry, original detail and wild, colorful, creative story-telling. Hands down, better than the film...two decades later I'm almost tempted to pick it up again!

LOVED this in the second grade. I tried the Violet Beauregard thing with the gum for about two days before I gave up. The "Great Glass Elevator" was a little freaky for me. There was one poem in it about a girl that went, "with stomach pumps and rubbers rings, they did a lot of awful things.." That scared me so much I still remember those lines. Was Dahl on acid when he wrote that?

A great novel from Roald Dahl. I really enjoyed the "Dreams do come true" theme that carried on through the novel, and at some points, the characters to me actually seemed to be ones that I could relate to. The characters were really well-developed and I could understand Charlie's inner struggles. Like most, however, I do prefer the movie over the book.

Excellent book and an awesome ending!!!!!

It's been years since I've read this one, but I remember it being very enjoyable. The movie is fairly faithful to the book if I remember correctly.

Roald Dahl has a wonderful imagination. This one is good. A sweet boy named Charlie wins a golden ticket to go to a chocolate factory,and win a lifetime supply of chocolate. He along with four other kids get a tour of the factory and meet Willy Wonka the owner. He has Oompa Loompas help run the factory. The other four kids are brats, each of the other four kids end up getting in trouble at the factory. My kids enjoyed both this book and the movie. Charlie the good kid ends up with the best prize of all.

I saw the movie long before I read the book, so of course the movie is the "true" version in my mind. I definitely prefer it over the book, though anything Dahl is almost certain to be good.

Charlie and The Chocolate Factory may very well be one of the most imaginative children's books ever written. The whole entire story of Willy Wonka and his magical Chocolate Factory is extremly winning and exciting.

An excellent and interesting story. BUT, a little too freaky and weird at times. Good, but not Great.

Cute book.

Entertaining but perverse. This one is bizarre to read, and I remember being scared for days from the movie version when I was a kid. Gene Wilder was perfectly cast as the weirdo Wonka. I still feel sorry for that girl that blew up like a blueberry -- but not for Veruca Salt (sp?) who definitely was a bad egg.

This movie stayed with me far past childhood..Gene Wilder was awesome-and...I want an oopa-loompa and I want one NOW!!!

this is a wonderful story and great at teaching some morals without lecturing.

I can't wait until my son is old enough to tell me, "Can't eat now, Dad. I'm reading 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'."

Dahl is always a bit grim

Should be required reading for all children.

The story has many elements that appeal to children, such as magic, humor, and suspense. The songs sung by the Oompa-Loompas are hilarious.