My Favorite Books: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

When I was between eight and ten, I was really into a number of authors. I read lots of E.B. White, A.A. Milne, Beverly Cleary and Roald Dahl. One of my favorite books from that period of time was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. 

Cover from the version I had as a kid

I believe that I read the book before I saw the film starring Gene Wilder. The movie version came out when I was seven, but I did not see it until it was on TV a few years later. I remember that I was a little outraged that they had titled the film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, but the film was brilliant. Still, I liked the book more.

I think I liked seeing what happened to the children best. There was a little feeling of righteousness as each child got what they deserved (although I did become a little nervous as I read about Mike Teavee) while the deserving Charlie Bucket got the big prize. Oh yeah, and the glass elevator at the end was cool, too.

Charlie was a perfect hero--someone who was good but had nothing and wound up getting everything his heart desired. Imagine my horror when in the film, Charlie and his Grandpa Joe broke the rules! I don't know why they decided to do that, because Charlie would never break the rules. Hollywood can warp everyone, I suppose. Anyway, this is a fantastic book, and I also enjoyed the sequel, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. If you haven't read them, you should definitely check them out.

Have you read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or any other books by Roald Dahl?

Here's a bit of the film version. This was cool when I was a kid, before computer generated scenes. All that candy! I've read that the first time the actors saw the chocolate waterfall room was when this scene was filmed.

Between the Lines: The Gingerbread Man

Hello there everybody. Today I'm bringing back an old favorite with a new look. If you've been following this blog for a while, you may remember the Monday Interview Series where I would interview characters from classic children's literature and fairy tales. I've been missing those interviews lately, so I decided to bring them back, but I wanted a snappy new title for the series--hence then new title, Between the Lines.

This week, I'm extremely pleased to say that I've managed to flag down an extremely rambunctious
little guy by the name of the Gingerbread Man. Let's see what he has to say.

Greg:  Hi, thanks for stopping by, Mr. Gingerbread Man. What have you been up to?

Gingerbread Man:  Here, here, why so formal? Call me Ginger, all me friends do.

Greg:  Oh, thank you very much indeed, I will. So, Ginger, what have you been up to?

Ginger:  Well, you see that's difficult to say. I'm not quite sure what I've been up to, but I can say that I've been havin' a right hot time, I can tell you.

Greg:  Um, hot time? 

Ginger:  Yeah, that's right things has been hot. Like for instance, I just came out of the oven a few minutes ago.

Greg:  Oh my, I guess that qualifies as hot.

Ginger:  I should say so, but that ain't all. No sooner am I pulled out of the oven than this old lady starts dressin' me up with a whole lotta frostin' an' all. Now I ain't usually one to cause a stir an' all, but that frostin' nozzle tickled. Well, it go so I couldn't take it no more. So, what do you think I did, eh?

Greg:  Er, I really have no idea.

Ginger:  I'll tell you what I did. I jumped up off the counter and lit out of there as quick as I could. The old lady was so surprised, she didn't know what to do. I started runnin' all over the house, lookin' for a way out, like.

Greg:  What happened? Did you find a way out?

Ginger:  I did not, leastways not straightaway. That old lady come at me with a broom, callin' at the top of her lungs for her old man. I swear, I thought I was done for right then and there. Luckily, he weren't in the house, but out in the barn. When he heard his old lady shriekin' and carryin' on, he come into the house.

That saved me bacon. As soon as that door came open, I was out of that house so fast, you ain't seen nothin' like it in your life. I felt so good about bein' outta the house and in the open air that I just had to sing a little song.

Greg:  A little song? Do you mean that gingerbread men sing?

Ginger:  Oh aye. Let me see, how did it go? Oh yeah. Run, run as fast as you can, you can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man!

Greg:  That's it, is it? That's the rhyme?

Ginger:  Well now, what did you expect, Cole Porter? I'd only been out of the oven for a few minutes at that point. Anyway, I was happy to be out in the sn. Soon I'd left the old couple huffin' and pufffin' and wheezin' behind me. Ah, the open road. This was the place for me. No restrictions, nothin' to hold me back! That was livin'. But my happiness was short-lived. I was chased by some farm workers and then some wild creatures.

Greg:  Oh boy. Did you manage to escape from them?

Ginger:  Well, that's what I'm tryin' to do right now, which is why I'm kinda in a hurry.

Greg:  Then I won't keep you. I'll let you run. Once again, thank  you for stopping by and spending some time with us.

Ginger:  Don't mention it. But don't worry about me, I've got it all figured out. I'm gonna lose these yahoos at the river. I met a very nice fox who said he'll give me a lift across.

Greg:  A fox you say? Do you think that's wise?

Ginger:  Oh aye. He's a champion bloke. He ain't gonna charge me or nothin'. All he asked in return was a quick bite. I'll bring him round the pub a soon as we get across and we'll be square. Ta, ta!  

A Writer's Week #67: Nitty Gritty Time

Another busy week has come and gone. I'm so excited because there is so much going on! First of all, my friends Jess & Stephanie over at Fairday's Blog contacted me to ask if Eric and Stig would like to join the Character Book Club. I asked them and they were thrilled. The Character Book Club is this cool club where fantastic characters from great middle grade novels hang out. Needless to say, Eric was extremely excited. Stig took it all with his usual calm reserve, but I could tell he was pleased. I'm very flattered that they were asked. I mean, who doesn't like being part of a cool club?

This month, Millie from Millicent Marie is Not My Name by Karen Pokras Toz interviewed the DMS (Detective Mystery Squad) from The Secret DMS Files of Fairday Morrow. Next month, May 17th to be exact, Eric and Stig from the Deliverers will be interviewing Millie right here. Stay tuned, it's going to be a lot of fun!

Then on Monday, my friend Ana Vogel sent me the preliminary layout for book 2 in the Deliverers series, Order of the Crystal Lion. That was really exciting, because it means I'm getting closer to releasing the new book.

It also meant that I had do a little bit more editing. Several of the chapters did not cooperate and were one or two lines too long. The result was a mostly blank last page for those chapters, which would not only be kind of funky looking but also a waste of paper.

As a result I spent a good deal of time finding ways to shorten things up. I wound up cutting a line of dialogue here or combining two short paragraphs there. While I was doing that, I couldn't help but notice several typos. Okay, no problem. I took care of those. Then, I noticed some missing words. Geez, I had edited this thing a few times. Others had, too. How could I have missed this stuff the first half dozen times? There was nothing for it. I grudgingly came to the realization that I was going to have to give the whole book another reading.

What I had expected to take an evening or so wound up taking the rest of the week. I only have about 45 pages left to review, then I can send the manuscript back to Ana for her to reflow. Arrgh! Oh well, it's going to be much cleaner now, but I'll bet you anything I still missed some typos. After you read the book you can let me know if you spotted any!

Since I got sidetracked with my unexpected editing task, I did not make any progress on The Golden Dragon of Ang. That's okay. This is the first week since I began the project where I did not get at least 1,400 words written. Still, right now my highest priority has to be getting The Deliverers 2 ready for publication.

I received a report from illustrator Daniel Vogel that the illustration of the crystal lion that will be the heading for the chapters is just about done and that the map is coming along nicely. Once the artwork is complete, I'll be able to upload everything to CreateSpace and order a few proofs to review. Will that be next week? I'll fill you in next Friday!

What's Christian Reading? The Candy Shop War

It's been a while since I've posted anything from the Reading Crew. Frankly, it's been tough sitting any of them down long enough to give me an update about what they've been reading. Christian received a new Kindle this Christmas as a combined birthday/Christmas present and he's been using gift cards to buy a lot of apps and books.

This week, I finally flagged him down and asked him about some of the books he's been reading. When I asked him if there were any that he really enjoyed, he raved about The Candy Shop War, by Brandon Mull. Christian had really enjoyed Mull's Fablehaven series, and that was what had prompted him to give Candy Shop a try. Let's see what he had to say about it.

Here's what Christian says the book is about.

It's about four kids--Nate, Trevor, Summer and Pigeon. They meet this weird woman named Mrs. White who runs a candy shop. They find out that she makes magical candies, including Moon Rocks and Shock Bits. Moon Rocks allow you to jump extra high and float into the air. If you eat a mouthful of Shock Bits, you can give people an electrical shock.

The four kids have to go on special missions for Mrs. White in order to earn more candy. Their first mission is to break into a museum and steal two artifacts that Mrs. White claims belonged to her ancestors. This leads to a series of creepy and shady events.

I won't tell you how that turned out, but you'll find out what's really going on when you read this amazing book by Brandon Mull, author of the Fablehaven series.

Here's what Christian liked best about the book.

I liked the first time they ate the Moon Rocks, because they seemed surprised. Nate tried to take a step and ended up drifting off into the air.

Was there anything that Christian did not like about the book?

Nothing. I liked it all. It was perfect, absolutely perfect!

So, how did Christian rate The Candy Shop War by Brandon Mull?

Christian gives it five out of five flaming monkey heads.

A Writer's Week #66: All Quiet on the Western Front

Contrary to what the title of this post may suggest, I am not reviewing the classic WWI novel. I just thought it would be a good way to sum up my writing week. Last week was pretty cool with some great attention being paid to the audio version of Sharky and the Jewel. My good friends over at Fairday's Blog featured audio all week, which included a nice review of the audio book and an interview with narrator Jimm Singer.

Scene from The Golden Dragon of Ang:
 Audience Hall of the Dragon's Mouth

Hmmm, what? What do you mean I told you all about that last week? Oh, sorry, I guess I did. I was kind of hoping you wouldn't notice. See, as exciting as last week was, this week was really low key by comparison.

I'm really in a holding pattern right now. School visits will not start until May (May 1st to be exact), and Order of the Crystal Lion--book 2 in The Deliverers Series--will be released around that time, too. Once the book is out I'll be making the rounds of book and craft shows which will be fun. Once all that starts to happen, things will get busy in a hurry.

One of the living sparkling stone warriors that Eric & Co.
encounter in Golden Dragon of Ang

Even though things are slow on the marketing and publishing front right now, that does not mean I've been idle. It just means that I've been able to use my precious spare time to do what I like best--write! This week has been very productive in that regard.

I was able to write 2,400 words this week, more than I've been able to in any of the last nine weeks. My total now stands at 36,100 words over 157 and 35 chapters. The Golden Dragon of Ang is coming along very nicely. If I keep writing at this rate, I'll be almost finished with The Deliverers 3 before The Deliverers 2 is released. Oh well, I've got some good ideas for The Deliverers 4, so that's fine.

That's really all I've got this week, but you never know what's going to happen from week to week. Anything is possible! Stay tuned.