Module 8: James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

Summary

James Henry Trotter has been placed with his two creepy aunts after losing his parents in a terrible accident. His Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker are terribly cruel to him and are in no way lovingly supportive after his great loss. One day a strange man appears and gives James some magic crystals which James drops on his aunts' peach tree. Magically the peach grows into the hugest peach James has ever seen. James finds in his way into the peach and escapes from his despicable aunts and find a few interesting friends along the way.

Bibliographic Citation

Dahl, R. (1989). James and the giant peach. New York : Knopf.

Impressions

This is a great adventure story for children to read. Adults will enjoy it also. The characters are memorable, especially James' creepy aunts. The illustrations provide readers with eye candy that enlivens the story. This is a terrific book to read on a rainy night with a cup of hot chocolate!

Reviews

Lane Smith trades stinky cheese for fantastic fruit with his black-and-white illustrations for Roald Dahl's classic 1961 novel, James and the Giant Peach. The reissue is timed to coincide with the release of the Disney animated motion picture based on Smith's suitably subversive visual interpretation. -Publishers Weekly

When poor James Henry Trotter loses his parents in a horrible rhinoceros accident, he is forced to live with his two wicked aunts, Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker. After three years he becomes "the saddest and loneliest boy you could find." Then one day, a wizened old man in a dark-green suit gives James a bag of magic crystals that promise to reverse his misery forever. When James accidentally spills the crystals on his aunts' withered peach tree, he sets the adventure in motion. From the old tree a single peach grows, and grows, and grows some more, until finally James climbs inside the giant fruit and rolls away from his despicable aunts to a whole new life. James befriends an assortment of hilarious characters, including Grasshopper, Earthworm, Miss Spider, and Centipede--each with his or her own song to sing. Roald Dahl's rich imagery and amusing characters ensure that parents will not tire of reading this classic aloud, which they will no doubt be called to do over and over again! With the addition of witty black and white pencil drawings by Lane Smith (of The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales and The True Story of the Three Little Pigs fame), upon which the animation for the Disney movie was based, this classic, now in paperback, is bursting with renewed vigor. We'll just come right out and say it: James and the Giant Peach is one of the finest children's books ever written. (Ages 9 to 12) -Amazon.com Editorial Review, http://www.amazon.com/


Library Settings

This book could be used in a book talk program highlighting adventure stories. It could also be placed in a summer reading display.