“Friends in Books,” Friend, Jan. 1972, 47
Friends in Books
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
by Roald Dahl; illustrated by Joseph Schindelman. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1964.
February first at ten o’clock in the morning, Willie Wonka greeted the five lucky young finders of his golden tickets and their selected guests and escorted them on a tour through his famous candy factory.
They first visited the Chocolate Room and sailed down the Chocolate River, which carried them to the Inventing Room, and eventually to the Great Glass Elevator.
In the process of the tour, four children and their guests were separated from the others and only Charlie Bucket was left. When Mr. Wonka pressed the button he had been longing to press for years, the Great Glass Elevator shot upward to a bright future for Charlie.
The Golden Apple
by Max Boliger; translated by Roseanna Hoover; pictures by Celestino Piatti. New York: Atheneum Publishers, Inc., 1970.
In the middle of the forest stood a giant apple tree with a golden apple hanging on its highest branch.
Several animals saw the apple, and each claimed it for himself. But none of these animals could climb, so they all sat under the tree and waited for the apple to fall.
Soon a squirrel came along, climbed the tree, and nibbled through the stem of the apple. But the apple was so heavy that it slipped through his paws and fell.
The one who emerged from the forest with the golden apple is a surprise!
The Topsy-Turvy Emperor of China
by Isaac Bashevis Singer; pictures by William Pene du Bois. New York: Harper and Row, 1971.
In the topsy-turvy world of the emperor of China, everything that is called just and beautiful was declared unjust and ugly and everything that is considered mean and hideous was declared fair and lovely.
One day Prince Ling found a blooming rosebush in a distant nook that had been overlooked, and this led him to the discovery that everything in his father’s kingdom was the reverse of what it should be.
Hoagie’s Rifle-Gun
by Miska Miles; illustrated by John Schoenher. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1970.
In an area where everybody—even Old Bob—had to hunt to survive, food was getting scarce.
Eleven-year-old Hoagie had not missed a target with his rifle-gun for almost a year. “One bullet is all Hoagie needs!” his younger brother, Ira, boasted.
After a long search, they saw a big rabbit scurry through the brush, but Hoagie could not shoot. When the two boys discovered later that Old Bob had devoured the rabbit, Hoagie was furious. He leveled his gun at the bobcat and learned an important lesson about life and survival.