Book one: shitty children get their just deserts.
Book two: being an adult doesn't exempt you from being shitty.

THIS WAS SO BRILLIANT.

Dahl is simply an incredible author, and sadly this book is often underlooked despite being a sequel to such a popular modern classic!! This was bizarre in true Dahl fashion, but I think in this one he really outdid himself; when I picked up this book I was certainly not expecting an intergalactic scifi adventure!

Packed with dad jokes, witty limericks and political satire, this was honestly hilarious to read. Books like these make me so glad to be British because I can see this being so badly interpreted by pretty much any American reader. (See: countless Americans making "theories" about how wonka planned the punishment of the children in the first novel. Of course he did, it's literally on the pages!!)

The depiction of the president was HILARIOUS, and eerily trump-like in comparison (Dahl called it.) other highlights shine in the characters of Charlie and wonka, there is definitely a bit of development in their characters here. Other characters do appear duller in comparison, which is a bit of a shame. I honestly feel really bad for giving this four stars and not five, I do definitely think this is fantastic. It's the very small details that bring this rating down.

Lastly, I'm so miffed that the other books never got written. You really do feel saddened by the end that the adventure (for us anyway) has come to a close. Great for the imagination and not so great for the curious. For the curious however, I do believe the first chapter manuscript of "Charlie visits the White House" is held in a museum somewhere.

It truly is my biggest complaint that this never became a full children's series, as it really had the potential for so many more stories to be written.