Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl stars Charlie a poor boy who wins a ticket to tour the mysterious Willie Wonka chocolate factory. The other children on the tour all have distinct flawed personalities which are tested on the tour to disastrous results.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is much like the movies that have been produced which was my daughters only complaint. She wished that she'd read the book first. It took a couple chapters before she really got into it but because she's got an author crush on Dahl so she knew that it would get better and after the first couple chapters she was hooked. My daughter loved the book and looked forward to reading it every day even though it was a difficult read. The characters are what really makes the book the other kids are exaggerated examples of all the obnoxious kids that are in a childs life and they get what is coming to them when they refuse to behave during the tour.
Appropriateness: Like most of Dahl's books this book is very twisted. Bad things happen to the kids on the tour in fantastical ways which might disturb kids that have a hard time distinguishing fiction from reality. My daughter however thought it was fantastic. The lexile is 810 and the grade level equivalent is 5.9 making it great for advanced readers. I'd recommend it for kids 9-14 who can handle the reading level.
