Sjakie en de kerstfabriek en andere verhalen

by Adam Hills

Sjakie Stevens viert kerst in de chocoladefabriek. Maar de komst van een oude vriend en een horde onbevreesde elfjes belooft alleen maar vrolijke chaos!

Matilda hoopt dat ze niet op de lijst van stoute kindertjes terechtkomt, maar altijd lief zijn is erg moeilijk.

De GVR en Sofie willen de meeste fritselfijne kerstdroom ooit maken. Maar daarvoor missen ze nog precies één ingrediënt...

Deze fantastische kerstbundel bevat 12 gloednieuwe magische en grappige verhalen, geïnspireerd op de werelden en personages van Roald Dahl.

Geschreven door Adam Hills, Adam Kay, Ben Bailey Smith, Elle McNicoll, Greg James & Chris Smith, Hannah Gold, Kannis Huq, Nadia Shireen, Nathan Byron, Pamela Butchart, Sally Rippin en Sibéal Pounder.

Genres: Fiction, Christmas, Middle Grade

472 pages, Hardcover

Published October 21, 2025

About the author

Adam Hills is an Australian comedian and television presenter. Known in Australia for hosting the music and quiz show Spicks and Specks and the talk show Adam Hills Tonight, he became known for his combination of positive uplifting comedy and spontaneity - seeing him receive a number of awards and glowing reviews along the way. In 2012, he hosted a one-off series for Channel 4 airing over 2012 London Paralympics called The Last Leg. Now in its 12th series, the show is one of the most popular shows in the UK. He lives in London with his wife and two daughters.

Reviews

[Sharah McConville · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Christmas anthology contains twelve short stories inspired by the works of Roald Dahl. My son and I read this huge book together and it took us almost half the year to get through! The mixture of stories, by different authors, ranged from good to fantastic so we are giving this book 4 stars, overall.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Charlie and the Christmas Factory is a bumper book of stories, inspired by the works of Roald Dahl. The contributors include children's writers as well as those who were originally famous for something else first (Greg James is one example). All of the tales have some illustrations as well, and all have a Christmas twist.

As with nearly any collection of short stories, there are some here which are more satisfying than others. My personal favourites were Charlie and the Christmas Factory; The Crinklemas Phizzwizard and Matilda and the Naughty List.

I loved Roald Dahl as a child, and this book was a nice way to go back and revisit some of the characters which he originally brought life to. If you read this, but haven't read the originals, I would recommend that you go and discover them at their source.

[Nadia Leona Yunis · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an amazing book full of wonderful stories. A must for all Roald Dahl fans - young and old. The contemporary authors have done a brilliant job recreating the stories for the new generation. A story a day will get you through the twelve days of Christmas. And the books cover and illustrations are just so heart warming.

[SalScamander · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you loved the Roald Dahl books, then you’ll love this. It was a fun short Christmas read, with all your favourite stories adapted with settings in the future of each story. Lots of new characters, and fun adventures. I enjoyed reading this.

[slowandsteadyreads (Kirsty) · Rating 2 out of 5]

* Finished 3rd January 2026 but I'll be damned if it counts as my 2026 reading *

Charlie and the Christmas Factory by Sibéal Pounder– 7/10
I should have just trusted the process with this one. There was a couple of things that I was hesitant about but they did work out. The first one is Violet being introduced – I don’t know why but I wasn’t expecting anyone to be introduced from the first book except for Willy Wonka, Charlie and his family. But I loved the introduction of her – Her little comments to the kids before they eat the sweets were so funny. I also wasn’t the biggest fan of the kids being affected by the sweets like in the original but luckily it wasn’t too much of the story and it did wrap around really nicely. I did think the ending was a little rushed but it was a nice story for sure.

George’s Marvellous Christmas by Adam Kay – 10/10
After hating the original story, I didn’t have high expectations for this one but it was SO GOOD! Gigi was annoying the hell out of me at the beginning and the parents are questionable for leaving their kid on Christmas Eve BUT I loved it honestly. It kept me intrigued throughout, and the ending was incredible!

The Gigantic Australian Crocodile by Adam Hills– 2/10
This one was not for me. I really hated it. It was just silly and unbearably repetitive.

The Crinklemas Phizzwizard by Nadia Shireen – 3/10
Writing was similar to the writing in The BFG which is what I disliked most about that book so this one was not for me. Although I did like the idea of Sophie and The BFG making a great dream for the girls at the orphanage and The BFG getting Sophie her own gift it would have also been nice to see the dream being delivered to the girls.

Matilda and the Naughty List by Elle McNicoll – 5/10
As an adult reading this one was rough – I felt sorry for Matilda. She saw one of her peers doing something that was wrong, rude and inconsiderate and the adults in the situation made her feel like she was in the wrong for feeling the way she did, and should have, when they should have dealt with the situation and told the other girl off. I just couldn’t get past that to like the rest of the story honestly.

The Giraffe and the Pelly and the Runaway Baubles by Nathan Bryon – 4/10
God this one was boring. I have no other thoughts unfortunately. It just wasn’t interesting at all.

The Witches’ Festive Flop by Pamela Butchart – 5/10
I had such high hopes for this one as I love the original story of The Witches. I went in expecting the same creepiness and tension and didn’t get that at all which is really disappointing.

Sammy, Lisa and Danya, Champions of Christmas by Konnie Huq – 5/10
It was a pretty sweet story; I liked that they felt so deeply about the cause and they worked hard and worked together to find a solution but I went into this anthology for Christmassy stories and apart from a mention of Christmas this wasn’t it which was disappointing.

The Twits in the Great Carrot Caper by Greg James and Chris Smith – 2/10
This one was fighting a losing battle honestly because the original book maybe my most hated book of all time. I just wanted to preface this with that statement because I hated this story too. It was just disgusting, like gross content, the characters are still awful and not even in a ‘fun-villain’ way, just awful. I like the ending when they get what they deserved but that’s about it and not enough to save the whole story.

Gran and the Magic Finger by Sally Rippin – 5/10
This one was okay.It was an enjoyable read but I do think it was just a rinse and repeat of the first story. Also, this one was set in Australia and there was a real chance here to explore how Christmas looks in the southern hemisphere and it wasn’t explored at all apart from a brief sentence at the beginning. Which, again, is why I went into this anthology.

Jesse and the Giant Peach Stone by Ben Bailey Smith – 3/10
This one is just a case of ‘not for me’ I don’t like stories with a lot of action – I just lose interest really fast and this one was majority action.

Fantastic Frankie Fox by Hannah Gold – 7/10
This one was cute. I thought the vegetarian rhetoric was extremely heavy handed but apart from that I enjoyed it, it was adorable and I lowkey love the idea of living in close quarters with people you get along with, having community areas but also having your own pace. It’s such a cosy idea.

[Norah Colvin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Charlie and the Christmas Factory and Other Stories is a collection of twelve stories inspired by the characters in Roald Dahl’s books. I have always enjoyed Roald Dahl’s stories, especially The BFG and The Twits which are my favourites. Each of the stories is written by a different author, one of whom is Australia’s own Sally Rippin and another Adam Hills.
Being a fan of Dahl, I was excited to see the book published by Puffin in 2024 (my edition in 2025) but also a little fearful of whether the writers would do justice to Dahl’s original stories and characters. I was not disappointed. Each story extends the original either with another episode or, more often, another generation. The adventures, the language, the humour are all totally in line with the originals and I found myself surprised by the escapades and chuckling along with them at the same time.
While you may not wish to read Christmas stories throughout the year, I urge you to put this one in your diary now to ensure you read it as part of your Christmas celebrations at the end of the year. However, I cannot see any reason why you shouldn’t feel comfortable dipping into it at any time of the year. I’m sure you and your children won’t be disappointed.

[Annelies leest · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ik maakte met Sjakie en de kerstfabriek een heerlijke trip naar memory lane. Oude verhalen uit mijn kindertijd werden in een nieuw, kerstig jasje gestoken en wisten mij ondanks ik ondertussen 25 jaar ouder ben, wederom te charmeren.

Twaalf nieuwe verhalen werden neergeschreven door twaalf schrijvers. Elk verhaal gebaseerd op een gekend personage van Roald Dahl. Denk aan Sjakie Stevens, Matilda, de GVR, de Griezels…en nog vele andere die mij dan weer minder bekend waren.

Elk verhaal behield netjes zijn eigenheid, en bleef echt een verhaal van Roald Dahl, alleen wat kerstiger opgedirkt. Mijn absolute favoriet van Sjakie en de kerstfabriek is toch het verhaal van de GVR en Sofie, warm, liefdevol en onschuldig. Knettermis maar dan next level.

Sjakie en de kerstfabriek is een heerlijke kerstige verhalenbundel voor jong en oud. Eentje waar je ook nog lang na kerst samen van kan genieten.

[Audrey Giacomin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the characters, it is as if Roald Dalh was here again ! And it is so much fun to see the typo sometimes adapting to the story.
Very cute and fun to read at xmas. Some stories are better than others but very nice overall. Would recommend for young adults and adults who want to stay young in mind !

[Toby Sutton-Long · Rating 4 out of 5]

While you can very easily tell this isn't Roald Dahl himself, these twelve authors very successfully capture the magic of the original novels, but with a 21st century twist. An anthology I plan to re-visit one day.

[Shannon Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

These stories are funny and do hold some of the charm that the stories written by Roald Dahl. However some of them did feel lacking but that might just be because they weren't aimed at me. I'll have to read this with my nieces and nephews as they grow.

[Joanne Hazeldine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book to my 8 year old. It was really nostalgic stepping back into the stories that formed such a big part of my childhood, especially the Danny the champion of the world story. Overall I felt the new authors did a great job of writing new stories but keeping the feel of the originals

[Ellen De Jaegher · Rating 4 out of 5]

12 verhalen die perfect passen rond de kerstperiode. 12 verhalen die hun oorsprong vinden bij Roald Dahl. Nee je moet zeker de originele verhalen kennen om dit boek te lezen maar als je ze kent geven ze een extra dimensie tijdens het lezen van dit boek.

[Larissa Hawkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is very good and it is lovely to see the different styles of literature.

[Samantha Broome · Rating 5 out of 5]

great little spin off of some of roald Dahl's popular characters. short stories and easy to read

[Jess Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was good some of the time as some stories was good and funny but some was boring.

[Kathy Spillar · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun read if you love Roald Dahl books and are familiar with his stories.

[Patrickderaaff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Als kind heb ik een aantal boeken van Roald Dahl verslonden. Mijn favoriet is De Fantastische Meneer Vos. Een aantal zijn van 'na mijn tijd', dus verschenen toen ik geen kinderboeken meer las. De GVR en De Heksen heb ik alleen de films van gezien, andere figuren zijn totaal onbekend voor me.

Van de verhalen die ik wel ken hebben de nieuwe auteurs goed de sfeer van toen weten na te bootsen en het is een dikke plus dat het allemaal Kerstverhalen betreft. Een paar verhalen zijn iets minder sterk, maar dat krijg je altijd als verschillende mensen een bijdrage doen aan een verhalenbundel. Al met al is het echter een heerlijk, luchtig en feestelijk Kerstboek voor de mooiste tijd van het jaar.

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