--- title: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Roald Dahl Penguin Cover Controversy description: Penguin says it's meant to highlight the 'light and the dark aspects' of Dahl's work canonical: https://time.com/3092927/new-charlie-and-the-chocolate-factory-book-cover-penguin/ author: Samantha Grossman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-08T16:41:12.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:12:17.867Z og:title: The New Book Cover for 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' Will Give You Nightmares og:description: Penguin says it's meant to highlight the 'light and the dark aspects' of Roald Dahl's work og:url: https://time.com/3092927/new-charlie-and-the-chocolate-factory-book-cover-penguin/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt347a97906df44c0d/69869edee53aba83044d3ed9/charlie-the-chocolate-factory-pmc-667x1024.jpg?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: charlie-the-chocolate-factory-pmc-667x1024 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The New Book Cover for 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' Will Give You Nightmares twitter:description: Penguin says it's meant to highlight the 'light and the dark aspects' of Roald Dahl's work twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt347a97906df44c0d/69869edee53aba83044d3ed9/charlie-the-chocolate-factory-pmc-667x1024.jpg?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Roald Dahl Fans Are Not Pleased With This Creepy New _Charlie and the Chocolate Factory_ Cover by [Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman Aug 8, 2014 4:41 PM UTC  Penguin by [Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman Aug 8, 2014 4:41 PM UTC This week, Penguin Books released a new cover of the Roald Dahl’s _Charlie and the Chocolate Factory._ Exciting news for fan of this classic novel, right? Eh, not so much. Reactions across the web were largely negative, with fans deeming the cover [inappropriately sexualized](https://twitter.com/Joannechocolat/status/497341343619100672) and reminiscent [of JonBenét Ramsey.](https://twitter.com/%5Fjamesdawson/status/497406587154493440) Others even thought it [was a spoof](https://twitter.com/thalestral/status/497448253504643073). But some people [appreciated](https://twitter.com/sarahmedway/status/497045272930041856) the cover’s creepiness because the book itself is, of course, pretty dark. Penguin explains its design in [a Facebook post](https://www.facebook.com/penguinbooks/photos/a.138490935370.225909.13655260370/10154417763020371/?type=1): --- > “” --- Some people [have speculated](http://www.businessinsider.com/new-charlie-and-the-chocolate-factory-cover-2014-8) that the girl on the cover is meant to represent either Veruca Salt or Violet Beauregarde, though [according to the BBC](http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-28703254), that’s not true. Either way, this art is a pretty puzzling choice, but at least the publisher didn’t put [Johnny Depp ](http://38.media.tumblr.com/tumblr%5Fm7s4k26NUY1qlknxjo1%5F500.gif)on the cover. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3092927/new-charlie-and-the-chocolate-factory-book-cover-penguin/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3092927/new-charlie-and-the-chocolate-factory-book-cover-penguin/"},"headline":"Roald Dahl Fans Are Not Pleased With This Creepy New Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Cover","datePublished":"2014-08-08T16:41:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:12:17.867Z","description":"Penguin says it's meant to highlight the 'light and the dark aspects' of the work","url":"https://time.com/3092927/new-charlie-and-the-chocolate-factory-book-cover-penguin/","keywords":["Newsfeed","society","Internet","Books"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt347a97906df44c0d/69869edee53aba83044d3ed9/charlie-the-chocolate-factory-pmc-667x1024.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Samantha Grossman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt347a97906df44c0d/69869edee53aba83044d3ed9/charlie-the-chocolate-factory-pmc-667x1024.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"charlie-the-chocolate-factory-pmc-667x1024","caption":"","creditText":"Penguin","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3092927/new-charlie-and-the-chocolate-factory-book-cover-penguin/","name":"Roald Dahl Fans Are Not Pleased With This Creepy New Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Cover"}}]}] ```