March Book Madness: The Great Glass Elevator

As part of my ongoing feature called March Book Madness, I want to contrast the project created by a student of the sequel to Charlie and the Chocolate Factor — Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl — and my own review, as I just finished reading this to my six year old.

This is the third or fourth time I have read the Great Glass Elevator and, I am sad to say, it just doesn’t hold a candle to the original. Sure, there are crazy ideas and mayhem all around as the elevator shoots into outer space and then back into the factory. What was missing for me is a real connection to the characters (I loved Charlie Bucket, but felt as if he were mostly sidelined here) and I got tired of the scenes with the President and his nutty staff worrying about the Space Hotel and more. To me, this book felt like a throwaway of sorts by Dahl, of whom I always expect more.

Even my son, who liked the book more than I did, kept asking, “Are they ever going to get back to the chocolate factory?”

My student, however, really seemed to enjoy the book.

Peace (in the factory),
Kevin