When the world's greatest candymaker gave Charlie Bucket his amazing chocolate factory, Charlie's adventures were just beginning. Now he's cruising outer space with Mr. Willy Wonka in a marvelous glass elevator. The whole family is along for the ride -- Mr. and Mrs. Bucket, Grandpa Joe and Grandma Josephine, even Grandpa George and Grandma Georgina. But watch out! There are all sorts of oddities lurking in space -- strange creatures like Gnoolies and Vermicious Knids -- not to mention the President of the United States!
In this sequel to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Charlie Bucket teams up with the madcap chocolatier Willy Wonka once again--only now they are in outer space! Charlie has won the famous chocolate factory, and all he has to do is pick up his family in the Great Glass Elevator, but is there anyone who knows how to drive it? Great fun for everyone.
Picking right up where Charlie and the Chocolate Factory left off, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator continues the adventures of Charlie Bucket, his family, and Willy Wonka, the eccentric candy maker. As the book begins, our heroes are shooting into the sky in a glass elevator, headed for destinations unknown. What follows is exactly the kind of high-spirited magical madness and mayhem we've all come to expect from Willy Wonka and his creator Roald Dahl. The American space race gets a send-up, as does the President, and Charlie's family gets a second chance at childhood. Throw in the Vermicious Knids, Gnoolies, and Minusland and we once again witness pure genius. (Ages 9 to 12)
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
THE ONLY DAHL STORY WE HAVEN'T LIKED:
I am the mother of a two children, ages seven and five. We have read and reread nearly all of Roald Dahl's children,s stories. In general, I love this author. His stories are entertaining, even magical, and so beautifully written. When reading Dahl, I am always aware that my children are exposed to high quality literature with a richness of vocabulary and ideas. Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator is the only exception to our general delight with Roald Dahl. It is dark and lacks the sense of optimism, the... more info
Not Free SF Reader:
Not as good as the original. The takeoff into the Sequel of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is ok, but the rest doesn't live up to it, unfortunately. You can save the kids this one and go for some of Dahl's other work, or just go through the first book again. The space mission here isn't as much fun and doesn't offer as much clever commentary as the other book.
Not worth reading:
Because my children dearly loved Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I could not have been more delighted to find a sequel. I bought it as soon as I discovered it, and proceded to read it to my daughter. My son then proceded to read the book himself. As I read it to my daughter, we were both very disappointed. We had hoped to discover what happened as Charlie learned about running the Chocolate factory and ultimately how he took over. Instead, we found some sort of a creepy science fiction type of... more info
Disappointing, slow and racist...:
After reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to my 5 and 7 year olds, I got down my childhood copy of Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. It made for a terrible read aloud! The plot was slow, the dialogue boring and I had to edit out some racist parts about China and the Chinese. We all decided to abandon the read aloud after Chapter 5. Very disappointing! I was actually surprised to still find the book in print!
