Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator is the sequel to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964), also written by Roald Dahl. In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Willie Wonka, the world-famous chocolatier and owner of Wonka’s chocolate factory, hides five golden tickets in his chocolate bars; the children who find the tickets will get to tour his factory. Charlie Bucket, the novel’s main character, is elated to find one of the golden tickets. He visits Wonka’s factory with his grandfather, Grandpa Joe, and the other four children who found golden tickets: Mike Teavee, Violet Beauregarde, Augustus Gloop, and Veruca Salt.

Each of these children (aside from Charlie) is tempted by one of the factory’s many wonders and disregards Wonka’s instructions, leading to disaster. Mike Teavee, for example, decides to be the first human sent through a television set, despite Wonka warning him that it’s not ready. He shrinks in the process and then must be stretched back out again by the gun-stretching machine, which leaves him exceptionally long and thin.

At the novel’s conclusion, Wonka reveals that the golden ticket competition was a means for him to find a successor to take over the factory upon his retirement.