Imagination
I must have checked this record out from the library 30 times when I was a kid. This is such a good read-aloud book, especially with the Centipede’s silly songs (my younger daughter just loves his disgusting food choices).
After his parents are eaten by a rhinoceros, James goes to live with two mean aunts who cruelly mistreat him. The story begins with James, age seven, beginning an adventure involving a giant peach and some abnormally- large insects. Like all of Dahl’s books, there are plenty of fantastic adventures and humor.
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I remember when I taught 5th grade and read this book aloud to my class. There was a girl whose mom would not let her listen because she did not approve of witches. In fact, this story is an allegory showing how Jesus sacrificed himself for sinners. The fantastic thing about this book is that the story is so well done that it can stand alone.
This imaginative story has so many fine elements to enjoy and to use to instruct and discuss. There are the London evacuations of World War II, sibling and heart issues, forgiveness, adventure, magic, battles, and talking animals. Underlying it all is the “parallel” story of man’s sinfulness and how that debt was paid.
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In this Roald Dahl classic, poor Charlie Bucket lucks into a golden ticket and tours Willy Wonka’s amazing chocolate factory. The book is a good lesson in cause and effect. Aside from the Charlie, the other children in this book are portrayed in an unflattering way, with problems ranging from overindulgence to rudeness. Each of these children falls victim to the thing that makes him or her unpleasant (for instance, greedy Augustus Gloop falls into the chocolate river he is illicitly slurping). Goodness is rewarded, which makes it easy for us to talk about cause and effect.
These children, their parents, and their fates are over the top, but as such they provide an easy lesson for children to learn about the consequences of our actions. The book provides an entertaining platform for discussing how others see our behavior and why parents do not give children everything they ask for.
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