Random House Children’s Banned Books Week Blog Tour: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

I'm honored to be a part of Random House Children’s Banned Books Week Blog Tour! Each stop of this tour will feature an extraordinary book that has been banned and a giveaway. You can learn more about Banned Book Week here.

For my stop, I'm discussing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl...

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

(Charlie Bucket #1)

by Roald Dahl

first published in 1964

Willy Wonka's famous chocolate factory is opening at last!

But only five lucky children will be allowed inside. And the winners are: Augustus Gloop, an enormously fat boy whose hobby is eating; Veruca Salt, a spoiled-rotten brat whose parents are wrapped around her little finger; Violet Beauregarde, a dim-witted gum-chewer with the fastest jaws around; Mike Teavee, a toy pistol-toting gangster-in-training who is obsessed with television; and Charlie Bucket, Our Hero, a boy who is honest and kind, brave and true, and good and ready for the wildest time of his life!

goodreads/amazon/b&n/indiebound

Like most booknerds, the idea of banning books frustrates, confuses, and saddens me greatly! Books are an invaluable, precious resource and should never be locked behind bars. And the saddest part about the act of banning books, is that many of them are meant for children and teens. These are books that matter and, whether they simply entertain; teach; help; inspire; etc, these are books that need to be in the hands of readers.

Most are familiar with Roald Dahl's charming and irresistible story about a kind boy named Charlie Bucket, his trip to the infamous Wonka Chocolate Factory, and the wild mayhem and chaos that ensues. But, you may be surprised to find out why Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has been banned and challenged in the past. This book was first banned for its depiction of the Oompa Loompas, which were originally described as African Pygmies. After this depiction was deemed racist, Dahl revised his story and created the Oompa Loompas we're used to these days. While I don't condone banning books, I am glad the Oompa Loompas were changed. However, even after the racist depictions were removed, people have still sought to challenge Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It has been challenged because  “the book espouses a poor philosophy of life” and because Charlie has no “tremendously positive traits, only an absence of negative ones” (info/quote found here). I find these claims laughable and a really ridiculous reason to want the book banned.

At its core, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is about being kind and honest, doing the right thing, family, and taking responsibility for one's actions. Like all of Dahl's unforgettable stories, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is full of heart and clever lessons to be learned. This certainly isn't a book that glorifies a "poor philosophy of life" or celebrates the mundane. And most importantly, with its laugh-out-loud humor, whimsical setting, and larger than life characters, this is a book that excels at entertaining!  Charlie and the Chocolate Factory captures and inspires the imaginations of young readers. You don't walk away from reading this book feeling poor or ordinary, you walk away craving more delicious stories!

Readers, especially young readers, need books like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and we all deserve the right to have access to such books!

Roald Dahl (1916-1990) was born in Llandaff, South Wales, and went to Repton School in England. His parents were Norwegian, so holidays were spent in Norway. As he explains in Boy, he turned down the idea of university in favor of a job that would take him to ‘a wonderful faraway place’. In 1933 he joined the Shell Company, which sent him to Mombasa in East Africa. When World War II began in 1939 he became a fighter pilot and in 1942 was made assistant air attaché in Washington, where he started to write short stories. His first major success as a writer for children was in 1964. Thereafter his children’s books brought him increasing popularity, and when he died children mourned the world over, particularly in Britain where he had lived for many years.

Win a copy of

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory!

Random House has generously offered one new copy for one winner.

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-ends 10/4

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Random House Children’s Banned Book Week Blog Tour Schedule

Sunday, September 27

• Good Books & Good Wine – The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
• Live to Read – Anastasia Krupnik by Lois Lowry

Monday, September 28

• All About Romance – The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
• BookieMoji – Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret. by Judy Bloom

Tuesday, September 29

• Word Spelunking – Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
• The Eater of Books – The Boy Who Lost His Face by Louis Sachar

Wednesday, September 30

• The Mod Podge Bookshelf – The Face On the Milk Carton by Caroline B. Cooney

• Curling Up With A Good Book - Jump Ship to Freedom by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier

Thursday, October 1

• Ex Libris – Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause

• Alice Marvels - A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck

Friday October 2

• Words Sweetheart - Taming the Star Runner by S. E. Hinton
• Book Chic Club - The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks

Saturday, October 3

• YA Bibliophile -  The Cay by Theodore Taylor
• The Irish Banana – How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell