Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator
Encyclopedia
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator is a children's book
by British author Roald Dahl
. It is the sequel
to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
, continuing the story of young Charlie Bucket and eccentric candymaker Willy Wonka
as they travel in the Great Glass Elevator.
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator was first published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. in 1972, and in the United Kingdom by George Allen & Unwin in 1973.
Unlike the preceding book, no film adaptation of this book has ever been made. Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
(1971) angered Dahl so much that he refused to allow the producers to adapt the sequel, while Tim Burton
and Johnny Depp
have announced that they have no intention of making a sequel to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
although elements from Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator appear at the end of the film.
Dahl had intended to write a third book in the series but never finished it.
ends: Willy Wonka has just given Charlie the ownership of his factory, and they crash through the roof of Charlie's house with a flying elevator to inform his family of the good news.
Charlie's grandparents (except Grandpa Joe, who had already gotten out of the bed) are nervous about going inside the travelling elevator
, and after twenty years in bed, refuse to get up. The bed is thus pushed into the elevator, which then takes off. At a critical moment during the return trip to the factory, a panicking Josephine grabs Wonka away from the controls, which results in the elevator, along with its occupants, being sent into an Earth orbit
. The elevator circles the planet until Wonka sees the chance to link it with the newly-launched Space Hotel, a creation of the United States
government.
In the White House
, President of the United States
Lancelot R. Gilligrass, together with Vice-President Elvira Tibbs (who was once Gilligrass's nanny
) and the entire U.S. Cabinet see a mysterious object (the glass elevator) dock with the Space Hotel. They fear it contains hostile agents of a foreign or extraterrestrial government who seek to blow up the Space Hotel. The space shuttle
containing the hotel staff and three astronauts approaches the Space Hotel and the shuttle's crew prepares for the worst. On the Hotel, Wonka and the others hear the President address them across a radio link as Martians, and Wonka proceeds to tease Gilligrass with nonsense words and grotesque poetry. In the midst of this, the hotel's elevators open, revealing five gigantic, brown-green, boneless creatures shaped something like eggs with eyes, which change shape, each forming a letter of the word SCRAM. Recognising the danger, Wonka motions everybody to get out of the Space Hotel quickly.
Those shape-changers, Wonka tells the others, are predatory extraterrestrials
called Vermicious Knids that have infested the Space Hotel. Since they can't reach Earth's surface to prey on its natives because they burn up in the atmosphere
as shooting stars
, the Knids are waiting in the Space Hotel for the new arrivals.
Meanwhile the shuttle docks with the Space Hotel and the staff and astronauts go aboard. The Knids reappear and devour some of the humans, but most of them escape back to the spacecraft. Capable of flying in anaerobic space at improbable speeds, they pursue the survivors but are unable to board the space shuttle. Instead, they dive-bomb the shuttle's engines and hull, destroying the rockets as well as the cameras and radio antenna. Without its engines, the shuttle is unable to escape the Knids by breaking orbit and returning to Earth.
Seeing all this from the relative safety of the Great Glass Elevator (which is "Knid-proof" - one Knid bruised itself badly on the glass and has been chasing the Elevator ever since), Charlie suggests that he and his companions use the Elevator to tow the shuttle back to Earth. In agreement, Wonka pilots the Elevator into range, whereupon Charlie's Grandpa Joe connects the two vessels by means of a steel cord. The Knids change into living segments of a towing line, with which they intend to drag the two spacecraft away, while the bruised Knid wraps his body around the Elevator to provide an anchor for this operation. Willy Wonka activates the Elevator's retro-rockets and plunges to Earth, taking the shuttle and Knids, all of whom burn up due to friction
with the atmosphere during re-entry. At the right moment Wonka releases the shuttle, which floats safely home. The Elevator then crashes into the chocolate factory, ending its flight in the Chocolate room.
Since Charlie was presented the factory as a gift by Wonka, he wants his family to help him run it. Georgina, George and Josephine still refuse to move out of their bed. Wonka proposes a pill he invented, Wonka-Vite, to make them young again. (He says that it is too valuable to waste on himself, which is why he needed an heir in the first place.) The three bedridden recipients get greedy and take much more than they need to. Instead of becoming a mere twenty years younger, the three grandparents lose eighty years, making George one year old, Josephine three months, and Georgina absent altogether, having become "minus two" (she was seventy-eight). Charlie and Wonka journey in the Great Glass Elevator to Minusland – a realm that Wonka discovered when his earlier attempts to create Wonka-Vite turned all the Oompa-Loompas he tested it on to become Minuses as the formula was too strong – to get Georgina back with Vita-Wonk, a sprayable compound that makes people older. Minusland is a dark, gloomy region far beneath the surface of the Earth, filled up entirely with fog
, and inhabited only by the invisible and highly dangerous Gnoolies, creatures which, with a single bite, turn their victims into more Gnoolies (Wonka states that the process, a form of long division
, takes a long time and is very painful). After administering an even worse overdose of Vita-Wonk to Grandma Georgina, they return to the upper world.
There, Georgina has become 358 years old. Her memory entails a lot of history, beginning with the Pilgrim voyage in the ship "Mayflower" (which Wonka and the Buckets use to pinpoint her exact age) and ending in the present moment, spanning over many wars and truces in between. Using a more cautious dose of Wonka-Vite, her companions subtract much of this age from her, leaving her at seventy-eight as she was before. During the process of becoming younger, she shouts several sentences, all having to do with American History, including: "We've beaten them! Yorktown's Surrendered! We've kicked them out, those dirty British!", "Gettysburg! General Lee is on the run!", "He's dead, he's dead, he's dead!", "Lincoln! There goes the train..." Charlie and Mr. Wonka administer enough Vita-Wonk to recall Josephine and George to their original age.
The grandparents are still incensed with Wonka's adventurous nature. They refuse, as before, to come out of bed. Then mysterious visitors arrive in a helicopter. The Oompa-Loompas give Wonka a letter from President Gilligrass, congratulating the occupants of the Great Glass Elevator on saving the lives of the shuttle astronauts and hotel staff and inviting them as the guests of honour to a White House dinner. The grandparents don't want to be left out, so they leap out of bed and join Charlie, Grandpa Joe, Wonka, and Charlie's parents to enter the helicopter
sent to pick them up.
Children's literature
Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...
by British author Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl was a British novelist, short story writer, fighter pilot and screenwriter.Born in Wales to Norwegian parents, he served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, in which he became a flying ace and intelligence agent, rising to the rank of Wing Commander...
. It is the sequel
Sequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...
to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a 1964 children's book by British author Roald Dahl. The story features the adventures of young Charlie Bucket inside the chocolate factory of the eccentric chocolatier, Willy Wonka....
, continuing the story of young Charlie Bucket and eccentric candymaker Willy Wonka
Willy Wonka
This article is about the fictional character. For the candy company, see, The Willy Wonka Candy Company.Willy Wonka is a fictional character in the 1964 Roald Dahl novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the film adaptations that followed. The book and the 1971 film adaption both vividly...
as they travel in the Great Glass Elevator.
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator was first published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. in 1972, and in the United Kingdom by George Allen & Unwin in 1973.
Unlike the preceding book, no film adaptation of this book has ever been made. Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is a 1971 musical film adaptation of the 1964 novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, directed by Mel Stuart, and starring Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka. The film tells the story of Charlie Bucket as he receives a golden ticket and visits Willy...
(1971) angered Dahl so much that he refused to allow the producers to adapt the sequel, while Tim Burton
Tim Burton
Timothy William "Tim" Burton is an American film director, film producer, writer and artist. He is famous for dark, quirky-themed movies such as Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet...
and Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp
John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II is an American actor, producer and musician. He has won the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild award for Best Actor. Depp rose to prominence on the 1980s television series 21 Jump Street, becoming a teen idol...
have announced that they have no intention of making a sequel to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (film)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a 2005 film adaptation of the 1964 book of the same name by Roald Dahl. The film was directed by Tim Burton. The film stars Freddie Highmore as Charlie Bucket and Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka...
although elements from Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator appear at the end of the film.
Dahl had intended to write a third book in the series but never finished it.
Plot summary
The book begins where Charlie and the Chocolate FactoryCharlie and the Chocolate Factory
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a 1964 children's book by British author Roald Dahl. The story features the adventures of young Charlie Bucket inside the chocolate factory of the eccentric chocolatier, Willy Wonka....
ends: Willy Wonka has just given Charlie the ownership of his factory, and they crash through the roof of Charlie's house with a flying elevator to inform his family of the good news.
Charlie's grandparents (except Grandpa Joe, who had already gotten out of the bed) are nervous about going inside the travelling elevator
Elevator
An elevator is a type of vertical transport equipment that efficiently moves people or goods between floors of a building, vessel or other structures...
, and after twenty years in bed, refuse to get up. The bed is thus pushed into the elevator, which then takes off. At a critical moment during the return trip to the factory, a panicking Josephine grabs Wonka away from the controls, which results in the elevator, along with its occupants, being sent into an Earth orbit
Orbit
In physics, an orbit is the gravitationally curved path of an object around a point in space, for example the orbit of a planet around the center of a star system, such as the Solar System...
. The elevator circles the planet until Wonka sees the chance to link it with the newly-launched Space Hotel, a creation of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
government.
In the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
, President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Lancelot R. Gilligrass, together with Vice-President Elvira Tibbs (who was once Gilligrass's nanny
Nanny
A nanny, childminder or child care provider, is an individual who provides care for one or more children in a family as a service...
) and the entire U.S. Cabinet see a mysterious object (the glass elevator) dock with the Space Hotel. They fear it contains hostile agents of a foreign or extraterrestrial government who seek to blow up the Space Hotel. The space shuttle
Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle was a manned orbital rocket and spacecraft system operated by NASA on 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and re-entry spaceplane with modular add-ons...
containing the hotel staff and three astronauts approaches the Space Hotel and the shuttle's crew prepares for the worst. On the Hotel, Wonka and the others hear the President address them across a radio link as Martians, and Wonka proceeds to tease Gilligrass with nonsense words and grotesque poetry. In the midst of this, the hotel's elevators open, revealing five gigantic, brown-green, boneless creatures shaped something like eggs with eyes, which change shape, each forming a letter of the word SCRAM. Recognising the danger, Wonka motions everybody to get out of the Space Hotel quickly.
Those shape-changers, Wonka tells the others, are predatory extraterrestrials
Extraterrestrial life
Extraterrestrial life is defined as life that does not originate from Earth...
called Vermicious Knids that have infested the Space Hotel. Since they can't reach Earth's surface to prey on its natives because they burn up in the atmosphere
Earth's atmosphere
The atmosphere of Earth is a layer of gases surrounding the planet Earth that is retained by Earth's gravity. The atmosphere protects life on Earth by absorbing ultraviolet solar radiation, warming the surface through heat retention , and reducing temperature extremes between day and night...
as shooting stars
METEOR
METEOR is a metric for the evaluation of machine translation output. The metric is based on the harmonic mean of unigram precision and recall, with recall weighted higher than precision...
, the Knids are waiting in the Space Hotel for the new arrivals.
Meanwhile the shuttle docks with the Space Hotel and the staff and astronauts go aboard. The Knids reappear and devour some of the humans, but most of them escape back to the spacecraft. Capable of flying in anaerobic space at improbable speeds, they pursue the survivors but are unable to board the space shuttle. Instead, they dive-bomb the shuttle's engines and hull, destroying the rockets as well as the cameras and radio antenna. Without its engines, the shuttle is unable to escape the Knids by breaking orbit and returning to Earth.
Seeing all this from the relative safety of the Great Glass Elevator (which is "Knid-proof" - one Knid bruised itself badly on the glass and has been chasing the Elevator ever since), Charlie suggests that he and his companions use the Elevator to tow the shuttle back to Earth. In agreement, Wonka pilots the Elevator into range, whereupon Charlie's Grandpa Joe connects the two vessels by means of a steel cord. The Knids change into living segments of a towing line, with which they intend to drag the two spacecraft away, while the bruised Knid wraps his body around the Elevator to provide an anchor for this operation. Willy Wonka activates the Elevator's retro-rockets and plunges to Earth, taking the shuttle and Knids, all of whom burn up due to friction
Friction
Friction is the force resisting the relative motion of solid surfaces, fluid layers, and/or material elements sliding against each other. There are several types of friction:...
with the atmosphere during re-entry. At the right moment Wonka releases the shuttle, which floats safely home. The Elevator then crashes into the chocolate factory, ending its flight in the Chocolate room.
Since Charlie was presented the factory as a gift by Wonka, he wants his family to help him run it. Georgina, George and Josephine still refuse to move out of their bed. Wonka proposes a pill he invented, Wonka-Vite, to make them young again. (He says that it is too valuable to waste on himself, which is why he needed an heir in the first place.) The three bedridden recipients get greedy and take much more than they need to. Instead of becoming a mere twenty years younger, the three grandparents lose eighty years, making George one year old, Josephine three months, and Georgina absent altogether, having become "minus two" (she was seventy-eight). Charlie and Wonka journey in the Great Glass Elevator to Minusland – a realm that Wonka discovered when his earlier attempts to create Wonka-Vite turned all the Oompa-Loompas he tested it on to become Minuses as the formula was too strong – to get Georgina back with Vita-Wonk, a sprayable compound that makes people older. Minusland is a dark, gloomy region far beneath the surface of the Earth, filled up entirely with fog
Fog
Fog is a collection of water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. While fog is a type of stratus cloud, the term "fog" is typically distinguished from the more generic term "cloud" in that fog is low-lying, and the moisture in the fog is often generated...
, and inhabited only by the invisible and highly dangerous Gnoolies, creatures which, with a single bite, turn their victims into more Gnoolies (Wonka states that the process, a form of long division
Long division
In arithmetic, long division is a standard procedure suitable for dividing simple or complex multidigit numbers. It breaks down a division problem into a series of easier steps. As in all division problems, one number, called the dividend, is divided by another, called the divisor, producing a...
, takes a long time and is very painful). After administering an even worse overdose of Vita-Wonk to Grandma Georgina, they return to the upper world.
There, Georgina has become 358 years old. Her memory entails a lot of history, beginning with the Pilgrim voyage in the ship "Mayflower" (which Wonka and the Buckets use to pinpoint her exact age) and ending in the present moment, spanning over many wars and truces in between. Using a more cautious dose of Wonka-Vite, her companions subtract much of this age from her, leaving her at seventy-eight as she was before. During the process of becoming younger, she shouts several sentences, all having to do with American History, including: "We've beaten them! Yorktown's Surrendered! We've kicked them out, those dirty British!", "Gettysburg! General Lee is on the run!", "He's dead, he's dead, he's dead!", "Lincoln! There goes the train..." Charlie and Mr. Wonka administer enough Vita-Wonk to recall Josephine and George to their original age.
The grandparents are still incensed with Wonka's adventurous nature. They refuse, as before, to come out of bed. Then mysterious visitors arrive in a helicopter. The Oompa-Loompas give Wonka a letter from President Gilligrass, congratulating the occupants of the Great Glass Elevator on saving the lives of the shuttle astronauts and hotel staff and inviting them as the guests of honour to a White House dinner. The grandparents don't want to be left out, so they leap out of bed and join Charlie, Grandpa Joe, Wonka, and Charlie's parents to enter the helicopter
Marine One
Marine One is the call sign of any United States Marine Corps aircraft carrying the President of the United States. It usually denotes a helicopter operated by the HMX-1 "Nighthawks" squadron, either the large VH-3D Sea King or the newer, smaller VH-60N "WhiteHawk", both due to be replaced by the...
sent to pick them up.
Editions
- ISBN 0-375-91525-7 (library bindingLibrary bindingLibrary binding is the term used to describe the method of binding serials, and re-binding paperback or hardcover books, for use within libraries. Library binding increases the durability of books, as well as making the materials easier to use...
, 2001) - ISBN 0-394-92472-X (library binding, 1972)
- ISBN 0-375-81525-2 (hardcoverHardcoverA hardcover, hardback or hardbound is a book bound with rigid protective covers...
, 2001) - ISBN 0-670-85249-X (hardcover, 1995)
- ISBN 0-394-82472-5 (hardcover, 1972)
- ISBN 0-14-240412-8 (paperbackPaperbackPaperback, softback or softcover describe and refer to a book by the nature of its binding. The covers of such books are usually made of paper or paperboard, and are usually held together with glue rather than stitches or staples...
, 2005) - ISBN 0-14-131143-6 (paperback, 2001)
- ISBN 0-14-038533-9 (paperback, 1997)
- ISBN 0-14-037155-9 (paperback, 1995)
- ISBN 0-14-032870-X (paperback, 1988)
- ISBN 0-14-032043-1 (paperback, 1986, illustrated by Michael Foreman)
- ISBN 0-14-030755-9 (paperback, 1975)
- ISBN 0-04-823106-1 (board book, 1973)