Thursday, June 26, 2014

TBT: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory


Earlier in the week Lisa posted about her favorite children's books when she was little so I figured I would follow her lead with one of mine for this Throwback Thursday. This year Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory turns 50! How exciting that the candy man and mischief maker has held such a legacy through books and film to this day. I first came into contact with Mr. Wonka as a chubby 10-year-old who caught the movie on TV during a family gathering. My older cousins, who were kids when the movie was first released, were eager to have me experience the magic of the movie. From that second on I was obsessed with it. My parents ran out and purchased the VHS for me and I watched it about 100 times. I was watching the movie during a blackout one summer and the dying VCR ate the tape. I was heartbroken! 

It wasn't until next year's Spring break that our teacher took us to the school library to check out a book before vacation. There on the shelf was the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory pictured above. It was hard for me to fathom why the title of the book and the movie were different, but it didn't matter. I finally found the book! I devoured it on vacation. I remember sitting, laying, hanging upside down on the blue living room couch tearing through every word. This was my first experience seeing a movie and then reading the book it was based on. In the movie Veruca is a bad egg and she falls down the eggdicator, but in the book she is done in by some squirrels who crack nuts! It was all very confusing for a kid, but I still loved it. There is something about visiting a mysterious factory where candy is at your every beck and call that is very tantalizing to a kid - in movie or book form! The real question is where does one get a giant gummy bear that has fallen from a tree?

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