The “Charlie and the chocolate factory” is children’s novel. It was written by Roald Dahl and was published in 1964.  It’s about  a little poor boy named Charlie who has great admiration and curiosity by the mistery of the chocolate factory , and an excentric character named Willy Wonka, the owner of a mysterious chocolate factory and the greatest inventor of sweets in the world.

The main characters are Willy Wonka, Charlie Bucket and four more children. One day, Wonka decided open the doors of your factory to the lucky 5 children who find the 5 golden tickets hidden inside five chocolates. Charlie is one of the 5 lucky children, although he can only eat chocolates once a year, for his birthday. The other lucky ones are : August Gloop (the first to find his Golden ticket), who shows the greed and the baseness moral; Veruca Salt, a bad gal girl; Violet Beauregarde, a young woman obsessed with chewing gum; Mike Tevé, a little boy who hates the chocolate and has a derogatoy attitude.

In general, I love fantastic novels and this one is. In addition to, I like  that these novels transmit a message and values. In this case, the writer finally emphasizes the only child who doesn’t succumb to vanity, consumerism, whimsical or competitiveness.

Firstly, I have to say that I have chosen this book,  THE Nº1 LADIES DETECTIVE AGENCY , because I’m interested in mystery and detective novels. In this book everything happens in a ladies detective agency in Garbone, the capital of Botswana, in the middele of South Africa.

She, Mme. Ramotswe, is an agency boss, the best and best known detective in Botswana. Thanks to her father’s inheritance, who had worked long years in the mines in Mochudi, a little mining town, she could buy a small and simple office well-located in the center of the city and a white van, where the novel is set.

Secondly, I won’t make a review of each chapter of the book, since each one is a different case that alternates with her every day’s life, family, her past, present and childhood memories when she lost her mother who was run over by a train when Mne. Ramotswe was a baby. Maybe if she hadn’t lost her mother when she was a few old her life might have been different. However, Mme. Raotswe, her secretary and close friends invistigate cases together, for example: common cases like marital infidelities, robberies, fraud, scams, disppearances, crimes, etc. which she resolves satisfactory with common sence, wit and intuition, this common sence that in most cases women have, haven’t we?.

Finally, the impression I got from the novel is my admiration for Mme. Ramotswe effort and courage to move away from her husband who doesn’t love her for that reason she starts a new life with new dreams to set up a company like THE Nº1 LADIES DETECTIVE AGENCY in a country dominated by men where only men have the space to be able to work as detectives.

RAMONA CREUS

This book, written by Roald Dahl, tells the story of a very humble family, formed by Mr and Mrs Bucket, the parents of both, and the true protagonist of this story: Charlie. They all live in a precarious house with only 2 rooms and only one big bed which everyone had to share.

The stories that are told around the mysterious factory of their no less mysterious owner Willy Wonka, fascinate Charlie who, in a stroke of luck changes his destiny, when he find in his coveted chocolate a golden ticket to visit the enigmatic factory.

From this moment, he begins a journey of fantasy that he will share with his grandfather and four other children through the magical factory.

As for the development of the characters, they’re true to life. Despite the exaggeration in their defects are totally credible and gives the feeling that the years have not passed for this story.

The truly valuable aspect is the message it conveys in each of the events that occur throughout the visit. Educational values whose acititudes and behaviours have their respective consequences. The value of respect, generosity, reflection, and friendship, which make this work a true timeless classic, whose message is necessary, even more so in nowadays, and which remains intact throughout the years.

Carles Caballero Micó

The story of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was written in 1964, its author is called Roald Dahl, This story is set in 20th century and it happens for the most part inside a candy factory owned by Willy Wonka.

The main characters of this story are Charlie Bucket and his grandfather, Willy Wonka owner of the candy factory and his assistants Oompa – Loompas, as well as the other four children who won the golden bulletin.  The relationship of these characters in this story is that Willy Wonka search an inheritor for his factory. For all this, he put five golden bullets inside of chocolates for choose five candidates. These candidates are invited to the factory to know their operation while they are analyzed by Willy Wonka to know their defects or their bad education. Finally, Charlie Bucket wins the reward and he is the inheritor of Willy Wonka.

In my opinion, this book is very interesting for its background but if I have to choose one thing that I don’t like is that it has a low rhythm and is aimed at a children’s audience.

Author: Francesc Casals Tella

This is a romantic novel set in the early 1950s about Eilis Lacey a young Irish girl who lives in a little village with her sister (a beautiful girl, very well-dressed and with a good and well-paid job) and her mother (widowed for two years). One day she was offered the opportunity to go to work to Brooklyn and improve her studies in accounting. Here starts an exiting trip for Eilies who thanks to love overcomes homesickness, and begin to enjoy her new life in Brooklyn. However, one day she receives news from Ireland and she will have to make an important decision about her futur.

I’ve really enjoyed reading the book, feeling the emotions as a teenager. I was hooked from the first lines, her first experiences working in a shop, her adventurous journey in third class on a boat to America, her day by day living in an Irish boarding house with other girls, her romance with a charming guy and her doubts at the end of the book about which way to choose.                                                        I definitely recommend this book to other readers, it’s an entertaining and beautiful love and sacrifice story.

Maite Lardiez                    4th English course