My middle school sons spent the last few months working with a talented group of middle schoolers (and a few elementary schoolers) in their junior production of Willy Wonka. It was a magical experience altogether and not just because my kids were a part of it but because the directors chose bright and fun props and costumes to make the viewer experience a feast for the eyes. And isn’t that what Willy Wonka does when the Golden Ticket winners enter the factory that has been closed to the public for many years?

When it all came to a close after the third and final performance, I reflected on where it began. With a book by Roald Dahl called Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

And isn’t that how most things start… with a book? We don’t give them nearly enough credit sometimes. The best blockbuster movies (and then the reboots upon reboots) and plays, fanfiction and t-shirts– usually based on a book. There are two versions of the book made into a movie, both of which were watched by my kids in preparation for their theatrical performance.

But it usually begins with a book.

And of course I decided to do what I do best and return to the OG- Dahl’s book and found that I highlighted one of the closing passages that seems to always stay true in any version:

“Listen,” Mr. Wonka said, “I’m an old man. I’m much older than you think. I can’t go on forever. I’ve got no children of my own, no family at all. So who is going to run the factory when I get too old to do it myself? Someone’s got to keep it going- if only for the sake of the Oompa-Loompas. Mind you, there are thousands of clever men who would give anything for the chance to come in and take over for me, but I don’t want that sort of person. I don’t want a grown-up person at all. A grownup won’t listen to me; he won’t learn. He will try to do things his own way and not mine. So I have to have a child. I want a good sensible loving child, one to whom I can tell all my most precious candy-making secrets- while I am still alive.”

Imagination. The way a child’s brain works to find the magic and the beauty, right from their own imagination. I can hear the music now.

If ever you need a break, borrow a children’s book (or five) and unlock your own imagination. It can begin with a book.