Charlie in the White House

Charlie in the White House

Author	Roald Dahl
Illustrator	N/A
Language	English
Series	Charlie Bucket series
Genre	Children’s literature, Fantasy
Publisher	N/A
Publication date	Unpublished (planned after 1972)
Publication place	United Kingdom
Media type	Manuscript
Pages	1 chapter extant
Preceded by	Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator

Charlie in the White House is the tentative title of an unfinished and unpublished sequel to Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator (1972) by British author Roald Dahl. It was intended to be the third novel in the Charlie Bucket series but was never completed before Dahl’s death.

Background

The Charlie Bucket series began with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964), in which Charlie Bucket becomes the designated heir to Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory and, by extension, his confectionery empire. The sequel, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator (1972), continues the story with Charlie, his family, and Wonka aboard a flying glass elevator that travels into space before returning to Earth. At the end of The Great Glass Elevator, the U.S. President Lancelot R. Gilligrass invites Charlie and his companions to the White House to honour their heroism after rescuing a spacecraft, setting up the premise for a subsequent story.

Manuscript and Status

Dahl began work on a third Charlie book, provisionally titled Charlie in the White House (sometimes informally referenced by that title in secondary literature) sometime after the second novel's publication. According to accounts from Dahl reference works, he wrote only the first chapter of the manuscript. This chapter is reportedly on display at the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre in Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, England.