I have not been a fan of Roald Dahl since I read James and the Giant Peach. I don’t remember all the details, but I do remember that he was very disrespectful to authority and James, the main character, ran over an aunt or grandmother with the peach and killed her. It was a happy occasion in the book. Something did not sit well with me on that one.

But, I was going through my son’s bookshelf the other day and saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I had never read it.

Surprisingly the movie Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory is very close to the text of the book. Some of the dialog is different, but the events are similar. There are only three glaring differences between the book and the movie (that I can remember). I have not seen the movie in maybe 20 years, so I may not remember too well.

The differences are that the spoiled girl in the book is taken out by squirrels, where in the movie she is done in by geese. Charlie and Grandpa Joe do not get involved with the bubbly stuff that makes them stick to the ceiling in the book. The movie makes a whole scene of this, the book just mentions the substance. The third difference is just the way the story culminates. It ends more abruptly in the movie version than it does in the book. Also there is a bit of a twist in the movie that is just a straightforward set of events in the book.

I thought it was certainly well written. It held my interest better than most books. I can see why it is popular among young teens. My son (9 years old for 1 more week) would love the humor and naughtiness of the children. Though Dahl is still disrespectful to others, it is more on a peer level instead of children to adults. Where there is disrespect to authority, the offender is reprimanded or punished. In James and the Giant Peach the disrespect is applauded.

I cannot recommend James and the Giant Peach to a child for reading, but Charlie and the Chocolate Factory seems harmless enough.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dhal, (the one I have) Bantam Books, 1984, 160 pages.

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In their book William Carey: Obliged to Go, authors Janet and Geoff Benge tell of the hardships and victories in the life and ministry of the Father of Modern Missions, William Carey.

While reading this book it gave some great background to many stories about his life that I had only heard referenced before, but had not heard the whole story. For example, many people have heard of the saying that the people in the supporting churches “hold the ropes” for the missionary on the field, but probably did not know that this comes from an event in Carey’s life (pgs. 68, 69). Also Carey’s famous saying, “Expect great things from God. Attempt great things for God.”, comes from a meeting he had with other ministers who were content to let God do His own work (pg. 63).

He really endured some hard times as a young man. It almost seemed that he was not able to get ahead of tragedy and hardship until later in life. But he never quit. This book is written very positively in the way he handled problems. I have never read his journals, but I am sure he struggled at times with what was going on around him. This book also does not point out some of the failings he apparently had as a father. I have read in other places some harsh criticism about Carey in the way he treated his family. I think it is easier to criticize the actions of people without understanding the times in which they lived.

Like other books in this series, I think the point is to give a general overview of the events in the subject’s life and not get too detailed in reasonings behind why a person made the decisions they did. I also feel that the target audience of these books is for a younger teenage audience as opposed to historians wanting full details of the life of the subject.

Unlike their book about David Livingstone, this one did not seem to flow into a nice easy time line and event structure throughout his life. I think that was more due to the way things worked in the lives of these two men, not necessarily a fault of the writers.

I have friends who have several books in this series and I am very excited about reading each one that I can. If you are interested in Christian missionaries then you will not be disappointed by reading other books in the Christian Heroes: Then & Now series.

William Carey: Obliged to Go, Janet and Geoff Benge, YWAM Publishing, 1998, 211 pages.

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Shoot for the Star is the autobiography of the inspirational speaker and Dallas Cowboys football player Bill Bates. This is not a new book. It was written just after winning his team’s second trip to the Super Bowl. Bates went on to play four more years and win one more Super Bowl ring.

Unlike some of the other sports biographies I have read recently (Armstrong, Runyan) this one did not have a universal theme of overcoming incredible odds to be in the position he was in. Therefore, you really have to be a football fan, or particularly a Cowboys fan, to really enjoy this book. Fortunately for me, I am a Cowboys fan and my years of greatest interest in football were from 1984 to 1998. Bates played from 1983 to 1997. Not knowing it at the time, I basically watched Bill Bates his whole career.

The great odds that Bates did have to struggle with are the types of things that makes him a good motivational speaker today. His biggest struggle was that he was an average guy trying to make it in a game that favored the exceptional. At 6’1″ he was not overly large. I don’t know what weight he finished his career at, but at one point in the book he talked about only weighing 183 pounds. That is not very large when facing guys like Herschel Walker’s 6’1″ / 225 pounds. Bates never had a multi season contract (at least through the writing of the book) that guaranteed him a spot on the team. Each year in training camp he had to fight 150+ other men for one of the coveted 47-53 slots on the team roster.

Bill Bates is an example of your average person who wants to go out and leave a mark on the world. He shows that through hard work and tenacity a person can often beat out more talented and naturally gifted people to achieve what they desire.

This book was definitely written with the football fan in mind. It was nice to be able to read a book that did not feel like it had to explain every position on the field and what all the terms mean. That said, this is not a book that would be very interesting to someone who only has a casual knowledge of the sport.

There were just enough stats and records mentioned in the book to keep a fan intrigued without overwhelming someone with too much information.

Some of the stories he tells are incredibly hilarious. Many of the anecdotes I had to share with my wife. We laugh at some of the great antics that went on in the delivery rooms for our children. It is fun to read stories of other people’s experiences that are just as hilarious. Just imagine this: 25 people in a stressful delivery room to deliver a set of very pre-mature triplets and in the middle of them all is an excited first time, football-playing dad calling a huddle with the doctors and nurses so he can give a pep rally speech moments before delivery!

The stories from the field were especially interesting to me because many of the plays that he recounts in the book were plays I remember seeing while glued to the TV on a Sunday afternoon.

Great book for the football fan that is looking for some motivation. Probably not a book that would interest my mom. However, unlike many biographies today, this one was completely devoid of cursing and I don’t feel I missed any of the emotion shared between the players. My hat’s off to an author who manages to keep it clean.

Shoot for the Star, Bill Bates, Word Publishing, 1994, 238 pages.

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I have to give high praises to Sally Jenkins once again for her writing skills. Like the previous book I read which was co-written by her, this one is well done. This time she teams up with Lance Armstrong in his first book It’s Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life.

I have not previously known much about Lance Armstrong other than he is an amazing cyclist and the winner of 7 straight Tour de France races. I also know him as a marathon runner in the last two New York City Marathons.

The first of the book outlines a bit of his childhood. It does not dwell too long on it, for which I was thankful. Lance proved himself to be a angry kid with a chip on his shoulder, a typical jerk. The quicker we moved away from that, the better. Unfortunately, I think that is a character trait that he never outgrew. He may have softened in some areas, but, by his own admission in the book, it lasted quite some time. He bares it all in the book.

The fascinating thing about the book is his journey through cancer. He had testicular cancer which was not discovered until it was in a very progressed, late stage. By the time it was found in October 1996 it had already spread into his lungs and brain. Though I knew he had cancer, until I read this book, I did not know how severe his situation was. The whole process of chemotherapy, physically and emotionally, was inspirational as well as very emotional. I had no concept of what chemo did to a body. I know that not everyone goes through the same type of treatments for cancer, but I have a new appreciation for the emotional strength it takes for someone to endure such events.

The book then covers his physical recovery from the cancer and details his emotional hardships to overcome the fact that he was a survivor. His “jerk” status that he established as a kid (for me) was confirmed in the year after his fight with cancer. He basically lived the next year totally defeated. This was taken out on everyone around him who tried to help him through the struggle. Eventually he was able to snap out of his funk and get back to what he loved doing.

The final part of the book is his account of winning his first Tour de France in 1999. He talks a great deal about his wife during this part of the book. He emphasized the fact that he was going to be the best husband and father he could be. Since the book was written 7 years ago he has royally failed in those areas. Though I said I don’t know much about him, I have heard about some of his relationships since his break up from his first wife. Not much of a model father and husband.

I found it ironic tonight as I was thinking about writing this review, I looked up his wife to see what she is currently up to. She is now living life as a committed endurance runner. She writes for Runner’s World and while Lance was running the NYC Marathon yesterday, she was running a half marathon in California.

While I may not think very highly of Lance Armstrong as a role model, I do respect him for his amazing feats of athleticism. I cannot fully put my stamp of approval on the book since the amount of cursing was way more than I was comfortable with. However, if you are curious about the toll taken on someone’s life in the process of fighting cancer, I don’t know of a better introduction to the subject. It is an inspirational read.

It’s Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life, Lance Armstrong and Sally Jenkins, Putnum, 2000, 275 pages.

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