Childhood Favorites...Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Childhood favorites. Everyone has a favorite book or author from childhood. A book that touched them or changed them. A book that perhaps initiated their love of reading and put them on the path of libraries and learning.

Childhood Favorites is a monthly series focusing on beloved books from the past. 

I discovered Charlie and the Chocolate Factory sometime in grade school. I loved it. I loved my hardback book with the pencil illustrations. And chocolate. Willy Wonka, the glass elevator, Grandpa Joe. And chocolate. The naughty kids who all got in trouble and punished in some way. And chocolate.

It was all good fun. Reading it as an adult, is still good fun, but you can see the darker elements that you miss as children. And chocolate. The fact that the family was really starving and destitute. That Willy Wonka probably wasn't a great employer or even a good man. But, chocolate.

Roald Dahl has been in the news the past few months because a publisher has wanted to rewrite/reframe/change text that has been deemed, offensive, inappropriate, and racist. 

Books are a product of the time and they reflect the culture, and community. Literature reflects life. All life: the good parts, the bad parts, the ugly parts. But, instead of trying to change and rewrite it, read it. Listen. Talk about these stories, even if doing so makes you uncomfortable. Agree or disagree. But, teach each other instead of running from it, or trying to hide it. We miss so many opportunities for discussion and learning when we try and hide the past.

My favorite film version is Gene Wilder's, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. It too is a product of its time, but also what I grew up watching. I can see the negatives, but I still like it. And chocolate.

What about you? What is one of your childhood favorites?