Charlie and the Glass Elevator, by Roald Dahl

Weirdest book ever.

After reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory aloud to my kids, I received strong counsel to proceed on to its sequel, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. My children were quite game to give this one a go and so we launched into this book and were launched into one of the most bizarre stories I've ever read.

If you haven't read Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator I would personally say that you shouldn't feel guilty about it. No need to re-arrange the reading stack to get to it post haste or anything. However, I also realize that the chances are high that I am in the minority on this one so don't mind me (much) and do whatever it is you are going to do.

When we left Charlie he was the new owner of the Chocolate Factory. Mr. Wonka, Charlie and Charlie's Grandpa Joe had gone to pick up the rest of the family in Mr. Wonka's Great Glass Elevator in order to bring them back to the factory. In this sequel, the family is on their way back to the factory when the Grandmas in bed start fussing and hollering, causing Mr. Wonka some troubles with his elevator. The family and Mr. Wonka end up in outer space where they board a new U.S. Space Hotel and are greeting by man eating aliens who chase them away again. The family manages to escape back to earth, after annihilating the aliens and saving the lives of others who had traveled to the Space Hotel. Upon arriving back at the factory, Mr. Wonka introduces Charlie's elderly relatives to Wonka-vites which will take 20 years off their lives (per pill taken). The Grandparents go wild with the pills in an effort to be young again, only Grandma Georgina takes too many pills and minuses herself out of life. Mr. Wonka and Charlie travel to "Minusland" where they locate the ghostly, non-existent Grandma Georgia and bring her back to the land of the living. In the end, everything is set to right but only in the weirdest fashion.

To me, the book was chaotic, crazy and insane. To my boys it was a hilarious good time. They laughed out loud. They wanted me to read several chapters per sitting. (We read the book in four days.) They just couldn't get enough and upon finish the read, Bookworm1 asked to read another Charlie book. "Regrettably" I had to inform my son that there are no other Charlie books. (Alas. Sigh. Oh dear.)

That all to say, we read this book and I never want to read it again. My kids had their fun (my oldest boy began calling my middle child, "My dear boy!") and I'm ok with that but I sort of feel the need to shower and read them a hard core classic to make up for all of the ridiculousness. (Ha! I jest. Mostly.)

Reading Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator was an experience. That's probably the best thing I can say about it.

(Regardless of my low opinion of Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, I have not given up on Dahl completely. I picked up a copy of James and the Giant Peach at Goodwill for $0.99 and am willing to give it a go!)