Wonka

Sibeal Pounder's Wonka is a sweet and very silly story for 9 year olds about a young Willy Wonka arriving in the big city with twelve silver coins and a head full of chocolate ideas.

What happens

Willy grew up on a tiny narrowboat with his mum. They were so poor she saved all year for the cocoa beans to make him ONE chocolate bar on his birthday. She also had a secret about chocolate she promised to tell him one day.

Seven years later he steps off a fishing boat (well, dives off a crane) ready to open a shop at the Galeries Gourmet. By nightfall he has nothing left. A shoeshine boy, a squashed pumpkin and a fine for daydreaming have taken the lot.

Yes, a fine for daydreaming. There's a sign. Willy is a dreamer, so you can guess how that goes.

Things get worse at Scrubitt and Bleacher's guesthouse. Mrs Scrubitt has something slimy moving between her teeth and offers him a glass of worm water. She also has a very long contract with some very small print.

Willy can't read it. So he signs, and soon he's stirring vats in a steamy washhouse with a room full of other guests who made the same mistake. The only one looking out for him is Noodle, the grumpy servant girl who tried to warn him.

Meanwhile three famous chocolate makers called Slugworth, Fickelgruber and Prodnose have their eyes on him. Their shop windows are full of rows and rows of exactly the same plain chocolate.

It's a book that loves a daft moment. Willy pulls a teapot out of his hat, then some carrots, and then something inside it neighs. It's full of grown-ups who are gloriously revolting too. If your reader enjoys a baddie you can really boo, Mrs Scrubitt licking gloop off her worm-water glass will do nicely.

Under the silliness there's a gentle thread about his mum. He carries her old chocolate wrapper in his pocket and talks to her as he walks in. It's lovely rather than sad.

What to read next

If this one goes down well, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is waiting in the library. Charlie Bucket gets one small bar of chocolate a year on his birthday too, and he makes it last for more than a month.