Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator

"I remember reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and loving it, obviously—it was about sweets and magic adventures, two of my favourite things. But I always feel that the Great Glass Elevator is slightly the forgotten little brother. So, I feel like shining the spotlight on this book once in a while. I remember the joke that got me laughing. The chancellor or finance minister was in the elevator, trying to stack a load of books on his head. He was delighted when he finally cracked it, and announced to everyone ‘he’d finally managed to balance the budget.’ Although I didn’t really understand what that meant, I did get the joke, and thought it was very clever and wonderfully silly. It became a bit of a eureka moment for me in joke craftsmanship when I was a small child."