Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Modern Fantasy/Science Fiction Literature

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is written by Roald Dahl. The story begins by introducing the Bucket family. There is Charlie, his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Bucket, and his grandparents, Grandpa Joe and Grandma Josephine, and Grandpa George and Grandma Georgina. They all live together in one very small house and they are very poor. They can only afford toast, cabbage, and potatoes to eat and they only have one bed that the four grandparents share. There is a local chocolate factory run by Mr. Wonka. When he announces that he has hidden five golden tickets inside his chocolate bars, Charlie is desperate to find one. The children who find the tickets are allowed to tour the factory, along with their parents. Charlie knows that he will not find one because his family is so poor and they cannot afford to buy chocolate. His birthday is a few days later so the Bucket family buys Charlie a candy bar but there is no golden ticket. A few weeks later Charlie finds a dollar bill laying on the ground so he goes and buys two chocolate bars. He finds the fifth golden ticket inside the second one! The first four children to find tickets are Augustus Gloop, Veruca Salt, Violet Beauregarde, and Mike Teavee. The next day is the day of the tour so Charlie and Grandpa Joe head to the factory. When all of the ticket finders get inside they meet Mr. Wonka. He takes them into the chocolate room where this a chocolate rive and waterfall. Augustus is very fat and hungry and ends up falling in to the river and being sucked up a chocolate pipe. Next, they go to the invention room where Mr. Wonka is working on making a three-course meal out of bubble gum. Violet tries it without permission and ends up turning into a blueberry since blueberry pie was for dessert. They then stop by the nut room where squirrels are shelling walnuts. Veruca is very spoiled and tries to take a squirrel since Mr. Wonka won't sell her father one. The squirrels find her to be a "bad nut" and throw her and her parents into the trash. Mike Teavee loves to watch television so Mr. Wonka takes the remaining two children to the Television Chocolate room which transports chocolate through the TV. MIke wants to be the first person to be moved through the television. When he comes out of the TV on the other side of the room, he is a very small person. The only child left is Charlie. Mr. Wonka tells Charlie that he has won and that he is giving Charlie his factory! He will teach Charlie to make chocolate and will let his whole family come live in the factory. 

After reading this book, I would ask my students to write the next chapter of the book. This could be a creative writing assignment. I would also ask them to "invent" a new chocolate candy and create an advertisement to sell their product. Another idea would be for the students to list character traits of each child in the book. I would have them analyze whether or not these are admirable traits. They would then see why Mr. Wonka would not want to give them the factory. Charlie was very respectful and a good listener so he won the contest.