Get ready to sing with Oompa Loompas, fight for golden tickets, and eat a lot of chocolate! A musical adaptation of Charlie & the Chocolate Factory is currently playing preview shows in London.

Award-winning actor Douglas Hodge stars as the genius, eccentric, confectioner Willy Wonka. The play officially opens on June 25, 2013. We’ve embedded the show’s trailer above–what do you think? Here’s more from the UK production’s official site:

Roald Dahl‘s deliciously dark tale of young Charlie Bucket and the mysterious confectioner Willy Wonka comes to life in a brand new West End musical directed by Academy Award® winner Sam Mendes…the wonder of the original story that has captivated the world for almost 50 years is brought to life with music by Marc Shaiman, and lyrics by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman (Grammy® winners for Hairspray; Smash), a book by award-winning playwright and adaptor David Greig (The Bacchae; Tintin In Tibet)

(via A Fuse #8 Production)

Inspired by Postcards from Penguin, a card collection based on classic Penguin book covers, one couple created a massive wall hanging tribute to their favorite books.

The couple posted the entire project on Reddit’s DIY section. In the photo set embedded above, you can explore the entire project from start to finish. Here’s more from the post:

We’re both huge book lovers, so we immediately began thinking of ways to use them in an interesting, decorative way … We tried various layouts, eventually deciding that a shifting color scheme would be the most aesthetically pleasing. We cherry-picked some titles that we were particularly fond of. Among them: The Catcher in the Rye, A Clockwork Orange, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, The Great Gatsby, and 1984. Among the authors: H.G. Wells, Roald Dahl, Raymond Chandler, and Graham Greene.

The UK-based Roald Dahl Museum & Story Centre has opened a new display: Roald Dahl‘s Writing Hut. According to Bucks Free Press, the hut reproduces the space that Dahl used to write.

Here’s more about the exhibit: “The centrepiece of our brand new displays in Solo Gallery is Roald Dahl’s Writing Hut, complete with all its original contents and furnishings. Visitors can see the ‘little nest’ as Roald Dahl called it, exactly as he had it set up, with all the extraordinary and fascinating objects he kept at hand for contemplation and inspiration.”

The museum added several new interactive exhibits surrounding the Writing Hut including a World War II airplane cockpit, a writing and drawing activity (where players get to pretend they are Dahl and illustrator Quentin Blake) and an ‘Ideas Avery.”

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Next year, Britain’s Royal Shakespeare Company will bring Matilda the Musical to Broadway in New York City. According to United Press International, the UK production of the musical “continues to play to sold-out houses.”

Here’s more from UK production’s official site: “Roald Dahl’s much-loved story bursts into life on stage in this brand new musical version by Dennis Kelly and award-winning musician and comedian Tim Minchin. Children and adults alike will be thrilled and delighted by the story of the special little girl with an extraordinary imagination.”

We’ve embedded the show’s trailer above. Dahl published Matilda in 1988 and Quentin Blake illustrated the novel. Since its release, Matilda has spawned a 1996 movie adaptation and a two-part BBC Radio special. Which actress would you cast as the telekinetic genius heroine?

With a few days left in the Month of Letters Challenge, the UK Royal Mail has issued six “gloriumptiously” collectible stamps for Roald Dahl fans.

Here’s more from the description page: “Six of Dahl’s most popular children’s stories feature on the Stamps – Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Fantastic Mr Fox, James & the Giant Peach, Matilda, The Twits and The Witches. As many of Dahl’s best loved stories have been illustrated by Quentin Blake it made perfect sense to use his illustrations for these Stamps.” What is your favorite stamp?

Each stamps contains a pivotal moment in the Dahl stories, from Mr. and Mrs. Twits‘ upside-down escapades to Charlie Bucket‘s golden ticket discovery. Prices for the stamps start at 66 pence (approximately $1.03 USD). A sheet of six sells for £4.66 (approximately $7.30 USD).

In a Michigan school district, two parents have challenged an AP English class assignment to read Beloved by Toni Morrison.

The controversial challenge has generated an impressive response in the Plymouth-Canton community, and the school district is currently deciding if they should act on the challenge.

You can share your opinion in the Plymouth-Canton Community Schools Board of Education suggestion box. Follow this link to email: suggestions@pccsmail.net. According to the board site, “suggestions are reviewed weekly by the Board and your idea may be shared publicly at a Board of Education meeting.”

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Would you ever use a coloring book as a tool to teach your children about the Tea Party or female anatomy? Flavorpill has compiled a list called “10 Really Inappropriate Coloring Books That Actually Exist.”

Some of the other topics covered by these ten books include gangster rap, Christian conservatism and tax sheltering. The recently released Occupy, a 36-page work about the Occupy Wall Street movement, tops the list.

Here’s more from the product description: “With millions of people around the globe watching Occupy unfold daily, parents, teachers, educators and simply ‘interested people’ have asked for an educational piece that captures this culture defining event and moment in history. Accurately depicted in detailed line art and conversation the book includes modern and historical figures with quotations from Plato to O’Reilly, Hannity to Maddow, Obama to Boehner. There are pages dating back to the Robin Hood era, drawings of various parks, political views from every angle and a few surprises with imaginative satirical pages. ”

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Celebrating the memory of a victim of the terrorist attacks on 9-11, the Brooke Jackman Foundation has launched its first annual summer reading list. Below, we’ve listed all the books selected by the foundation’s  advisory committee.

The committee includes actor Alec Baldwin, actress Jamie Lee Curtis, Reading Rainbow show creator Dr. Twila C. Liggett, literacy expert Dr. Gay Su Pinnell, and children’s authors Stephanie Calmenson and Katie Davis.

Here’s more from the release: “Each selected two of their favorite books – a favorite from their childhood and a second book that has become more relevant in their adulthood – and added an anecdotal line about their selections … The 12 books selected by the committee convey invaluable lessons about hope, loyalty and individuality.”

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Happy National Poetry Month! Roald Dahl‘s prose will soon grace breakfast tables in the UK, but here’s a taste of his poetic side.

We’ve dug up this video of Timothy West and Prunella Scales reading Dahl’s version of Cinderella from his poetry collection, Revolting Rhymes. It also features illustrations by Quentin Blake.

What Dahl quote would you like to see on a cereal box?

Five stories from Roald Dahl‘s Tales of the Unexpected have been adapted for the stage in the UK. On January 14th, Roald Dahl’s Twisted Tales opened for previews on the West End.

Jeremy Dyson wrote the script and Polly Findlay directed the play. The production website should be 14 or older since it is based on short stories with adult material.

Dahl first published the collection in 1979. The sixteen stories inspired a television series that lasted for nine seasons. The video embedded above features the show’s theme song. (Via the Daily Mail)