Free (Web only) Lost Chapter for Charley and the Chocolate Factory

[Manabi]

I'll let the Guardian explain this, since they do it better than I can, the full article about the chapter is here.

A lost chapter of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, deemed too wild, subversive and insufficiently moral for the tender minds of British children almost 50 years ago, has been published for the first time.

The chapter, in Saturday's Guardian Review, with new illustrations by Sir Quentin Blake, was found among Dahl's papers after his death. It was chapter five in one of many early drafts of the book, one of the best-loved children's books, but was cut from the version first published in the US in 1964 and in the UK in 1967.

In the chapter Charlie Bucket – accompanied by his mother, not his sprightly grandfather – and the other children are led into the Vanilla Fudge Room, where they face the sinister prospect of the Pounding and Cutting Room.

You can read the actual chapter here. It's interesting, but I can see why it was cut.

[crich70]

Thanks. I wonder what happened to the other 4. As I recall reading Roald Dahl wanted there to be 12 kids at 1st. In the published book (and movie) there are only 5 kids. Mr. Dahl found it too hard to write a book where there were 12 kids as I understand it.

[Manabi]

He may have taken them out for various reasons, there's also a chapter entitled "The Secret Ordeal of Miranda Piker" that he took out shortly before publication. He reportedly removed that one because he thought the type of candy (lets kids appear to be sick to get a day off from school) had Wonka encouraging bad behavior in children (skipping school), but he wanted the book to show the nasty traits of children. Having Wonka actually encouraging bad behavior, while revealing all the nasty traits of the children on the tour, was counter intuitive. (I agree, it would have been. Still fun to read the chapter where she gets her comeuppance.)

I could have sworn I read something today about a seventh child, of which only the name is known currently, but I'm unable to locate that info now. Maybe there's another lost chapter out there.

[eschwartz]

Pre-existing discussion here: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=245409