My wife and I actually read this book by Roald Dahl to my daughter, but I thought I’d go ahead and comment on it. James and the Giant Peach follows the same winning “Cinderella” formula that a lot of other writers like J.K. Rowling have used, and which Dahl also modifies in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: a miserable orphan child is stuck living with wicked relatives but is rescued by some magical force that takes him away to adventure and happiness.
In this case, James’s parents were killed by a rhinoceros and he’s living with this nasty Aunt Spiker and nastier Aunt Sponge. One day James is given some magic …things by a stranger and after spilling them at the base of a peach tree he awakes the next morning to find a gigantic peach growing in his back yard. So he hops inside, meets some talking bugs, and rolls away to America. Well, actually he flies through the kingdom of the cloud people, first.
So, yeah, it’s fanciful and silly, but it’s clearly a children’s book. It’s very much got the feel of something made up on the fly, and I could imagine Dahl narrating the story off the top of his head and then going back to jot it down. My 5-year old daughter Samantha loved it, though, and it marks the beginning of her transition from books whose pages are dominated by pictures to ones where pictures only appear every few pages. Sam was enamored by the bug friends James meets in the peach, and I have to admit that I liked them too, particularly the bickering duo of the Earthworm and the Centipede. The pacing was also really quick, with one thing happening after another without dwelling on descriptions or dialog too much. About the only thing I didn’t care for were the poems/songs that cropped up occasionally, but I could skim those. So all in all it makes for a good book for kids around her age or for older kids learning to read to themselves. So does Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, also by Dahl.
I loved that book! I think they have made a movie out of it.
Stuart Little is also a great book to read aloud. Nothing like the movie.
OOh, good idea. I’ll see if I can get that one. Mandy loves the movie for some reason, though.
The comparison to Cinderella is apt up to a point but Dahl’s work probably has more in common with the Grimms’ fairy tales. Quite dark in their own way and they don’t shy away from subjects like death and so on. Of course the endings tend to be happy because these are kids books after all. The best thing about them is that because they’re not sanitised and they are written with the sole goal of entertaining children in mind, kids absolutely love them and in my experience they will get a kick out of reading them themselves.
Although I’m pretty certain that you could read any of his books to your kids and they would *love* them, I’d recommend the following if you’re into exploring more Dahl:
The Twits
The Witches – also worth watching is the movie adaptation; probably the one Dahl book that doesn’t have a happy ending
The BFG – kids love this one because it’s full of fart jokes but there’s much more to it than that.
Danny, The Champion of the World – one of his less fantastical novels and probably his best, if you only ever read one more Dahl book then you should read this one.
Revolting Rhymes – a collection of long form poems, all of which are parodies of classic fairy tales.
Matilda – another one that’s been adapted into a movie that is itself well worth seeking out.
Finally, although I personally still love these books despite being in my thirties, if you want something to read for your own enjoyment then I highly recommend his two auto-biographies ‘Boy’ and ‘Going Solo’.
I have to confess I have never seen the movie aside from the snippets I caught at your house. I do remember loving the book. Mom used to read aloud to me every night, books I could not have read on my own at the time. It is a great way to use your imagination.
I like the ways you say your preview about james and the giant peach i read your preview and went to the book shop to buy this book and it was truth that the story was a very nice story.