I read James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl with my five year old. We had just finished Charlotte's Web and I was looking for chapter books I could enjoy as well. And I knew we had the movie so we could watch it when we were done. It turned out to be a great choice. Dahl uses the cliffhanger method at the end of almost every one of his chapters, and each chapter is only a page or two long. That combined with great illustrations, made for a win-win situation. I often ended a chapter only to have my son beg for another. This is a good sign, and something he didn't do with Charlotte's Web, even though he enjoyed it too. I also picked it because it was something I had never read. Turns out it was the perfect selection all around. Only took us a few weeks to read it and it was highly enjoyable. The characters come alive in a way other stories about bugs never did for me. I actually found myself sympathizing with the earthworm. The imagination and magic factor held me the whole time, and my son and I often discussed what would happen next. Some of our ideas were so far out there, but we laughed, knowing it was highly possible, even probable that they could very well be true. Dahl's penchant for silliness and the unexpected made our guesses that much more realistic.

The vocabulary was perfect, just enough to keep me from being bored, but easy enough for my son to understand, and we both learned new words! His was peach stone, another name for a peach pit. Mine was steeplejacks, and no, I won't tell you what it is, you have to look it up. Dahl's writing is fantastic, and I had great fun making up tunes to his songs throughout the book. The book definitely has the longevity factor going for it, and children can appreciate the many themes of friendship and loyalty for the duration the book. So in these regards I think it can be considered a classic.

The only complaint that some may have about this book is that he uses the word "ass" a few times in it, and even though I was told about it, I was still surprised when I stumbled over their use. Because I was reading this to my son, it wasn't a problem, I just substituted a word for it or skipped over it. If a child is reading the book on their own, well, I'm a big believer that if the adult cares so much, they should be reading the books first and then discussing it with their kids. Much of the great literature that's out there has ideas that are taboo in polite circles or are difficult concepts to explain when looking at human history. But that's what makes them great. And it's much better to educate your child, and do it yourself, before they get misconstrued opinions from the world at large or other teachers. I remember many teachers I had that pushed their opinions, good and bad on students when reading literature. That's a parent's responsibility. As for this book, it was excellent. And I highly recommend it for your first chapter books for your child.

Now for the movie. I was excited because this was the first time my son had read a book and seen the movie afterward. It was funny to see how disappointed he was. That sounds bad. What I mean is, he enjoyed it and we had a fun "popcorn night" that is one of his favorite things, but his favorite part of the movie was the part about the sharks. He was like, "There wasn't a robot shark in the book! Where are the real sharks? And what happened to the cloud men?" I laughed. I told him it often happens that the movie is nothing like the book and then asked which he liked better. He vehemently exclaimed "The book!" Which, of course, was the whole objective. Lesson learned.


ClassicsDefined.com

This was my first re-read of James and the Giant Peach as an adult. It's still just as great. It's so quirky, and the end is so heartwarming! I can't wait to read it to my child one day.

Sidenote: I never realized how many times the word "ass" is in this book. Ha.

James has had to move in with his two aunties since his parents died. His aunties aren't the best people and they beat him without no reason and get him to do all the work and never let him go play with any of the other kids. Then one day James meets a mysterious person and that person gives him something magical to turn his life around.

James runs home but he trips on the way under an old peach tree that didn't bore fruit. That magic seeps underneath the peach tree and suddenly a peach starts to grow on its branch. That peach keeps growing and until it's so big that it became nearly as tall as the tree itself. His aunties get an idea to become rich and famous and they start charging fee anyone who comes to have a look at the giant peach. They lock James inside a room the entire day.

When at night James is allowed to go out but only to clean, he comes across a hole in the giant peach and meets peculiar creatures but he finds out that those creatures grew in size because of the magic and they are a centipede, earthworm, grasshopper, glow-worm, spider, ladybug and a silkworm. They decide to get the peach to roll down the hill and go places and places they go.

This is such a fun book with an odd story but enjoyable nevertheless.

4 stars

Completely charming bug propaganda. I giggled throughout.

Magic beans transforms an ordinary peach into a gigantic piece of fruit and its surrounding insect populace human-sized, before going on to rescue James Henry Trotter from his sad life with his evil aunts, Spiker and Sponge.

I remember not really liking James and the Giant Peach all that much when I was a kid but I still thought it was an ok book. On re-reading though, eh, no - it’s not very good at all!

There’s no real story - the peach heads to America for no reason - and plot elements were too contrived, even for a kid’s book. James lassoing hundreds of seagulls in no time at all and then them carrying them across the sea - it’s just too easy and unimaginative.

A lot of the characters were unmemorable - besides the Centipede and the Earthworm nobody really has a personality and those two weren’t exactly very likeable either! Oh and I haaaated the tedious songs that kept cropping up - it was like reading bloody Tolkien again!

I liked the more macabre elements of the story like the oddly sinister Cloud-Men and the “immense grey batlike creature swooping down towards them out of the dark” - Quentin Blake’s drawing really sells them too. The batlike creature is a really weird inclusion as it has no bearing on the plot and is never mentioned again. But that kind of strange detail is partly why you re-read as you notice stuff you didn’t the first time!

Unfortunately besides these brief moments, it was a very boring read. James and the Giant Peach may have been Roald Dahl’s breakthrough book but it’s definitely not among his best.

What I was hoping would be a magical tale that reminded me of my childhood turned out to be an incredibly dull but also problematic book by Dahl - yet again!

Things I liked - the idea that we shouldn't kill insects and bugs because we are scared of them, and there is a nice moment with the Spider who laments the loss of her family.

Things I disliked - the portrayal of the Aunts and all the fat-shaming that it entailed. They're awful people, but there's a recurring element of Dahl's works where he continuously fat shames. I also didn't like that this was just a dull story and highly unrealistic too. Also, the ending is the exact same as The BFG and I read one after the other and it enraged me. Also, all the SINGING. Hate it.

I had high hopes that I would love this one, as I recall enjoying the movie, but Dahl's books continue to disappoint.

I'm going to be completely honest here. I didn't like this book.

Usually, if I don't care for a book, I keep schtum about it here. Not only is it not as much fun to talk about books I didn't like, but bad-mouthing other author's books is pretty rude.

But, given that Dahl has passed on, and a fair number of people ask me for book recommendations for their kids. I figured I'd chime in with my opinion about this one.

I recently read it with my son, and while it wasn't *awful,* it was just... Meh. It was just a series of vaguely interesting events loosely connected by not much of anything.

And no. It's not a Picaresque. You know what a picaresque is. And if you do, it doesn't matter because that's not an excuse for a meh book with no narrative through line. So don't bring that weak shit around here.

Here's the thing, before this book, I read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to my boy. *That* was an interesting book. Charlie was in a bad place. He was a sympathetic character. He *wanted* something for himself. He strove for it. And when he got it, we, the readers, were delighted.

James... not so much.

In Charlie and the Chocolate factory, each of the rooms was kind of cool and interesting. People talked *about* things.

IN this book, about 60% most of the dialogue was just four different people exclaiming about the same thing. Or they'd bicker pointlessly about the same things. There were some notable exceptions, but for the most part it was purposeless, and tedious to read.

Honestly, I skipped pieces of it. And my son, who has read the book before with his mother, didn't notice. (Because he *will* call me out on stuff like that.)

Now could a child enjoy reading this book on their own? Absolutely. Some of the language will be a a little opaque for a young reader, but I think that's good. That stretches your mind and builds vocabulary.

But as a book you're thinking of reading to a kid? I'd pass. There are so many other better options out there. Books with more engaging characters and more compelling stories....

I remember when this book was read to me by my fifth grade teacher during our daily story time hour. I also remember hating that teacher because he played favorites to a group of girls that bullied me. However, despite my obvious distaste for the class and its inhabitants, I largely attribute that particular teacher for reading out to me some of my most favourite children's books; this particular Roald Dahl was one of them.

In all honesty before re-reading this after some 14 years, the only part of the entire book that I remembered distinctly was the bit with the old man and the word "peculiar" repeated several times (it was the word we had to remember for a test in the class, I believe). So re-reading this was like a new experience, which was just completely exciting for me!

This was such a short, sweet and lovely little book filled with all the classic kid lit tropes, which made it utterly enjoyable and as whimsical and delicious as the peach described in the book! I highly recommend it and I can gladly say that after fourteen years it still remains a favourite.

De pequeña leí 'Las brujas' y 'El gran gigante bonachón' del mismo autor, y recuerdo que eran de mis libros favoritos. También de pequeña recuerdo ver la película, que me fascinaba, pero no sabía que estaba basada en este mismo libro. Me decidí a leerlo para despejarme un poco de tanto libro clásico, y me ha parecido muy tierno. He disfrutado muchísimo de este lectura. ¿Cuándo se es demasiado mayor para libros infantiles?

“But the peach…ah, yes…the peach was a soft, stealthy traveler, making no noise as it floated along. And several times during that long silent night ride high up over the middle of the ocean in the moonlight, James and his friends saw things that no one had ever seen before.”

This book is pure nostalgia, a nod to my earlier years of life when I was absolutely in love with the movie version. It was my second childhood favorite film of Tim Burton’s, the first being Nightmare Before Christmas! I don’t know if it’s because I saw the movie first and it’s so near and dear to my heart, but I’d have to say the movie is slightly better than the book. It could also be the differences between the two? Despite that though, I still really enjoyed getting lost in the book. It was a fun adventure!

What can be more whimsical than escaping an awful life in a giant peach with a bunch of friendly bugs? James found a new family and discovered his own self worth/self esteem during his adventures as he became a leader. It’s a very heart warming and hopeful tale. And you just have to love the bugs! They all have unique personalities and roles. My favorites are Miss Spider and Centipede. Lady Bird (aka Mrs. Ladybug) always reminded me of my grandmother in the movie LOL!

I enjoyed this read on audiobook. The sound effects were engaging; I absolutely loved the experience! And yes, I may have craved peaches the whole time I was reading this. Haha!

I also really loved that there was a reference in the story to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The peach crashes into a chocolate factory causing a stream of chocolate to swarm the streets! It was awesome!

5/5 for giving my heart a hug!

The combination of Dahl's bizarre imagination and complete disregard for rules makes him the perfect author for distracted boys and imaginative girls.

This is the perfect book to hand to a 4th, 5th or 6th grader who complains, "Reading is boring," or "I don't like to read."

I think this was the weirdest book I have ever read.

I really liked that he explained many theories and facts about insects, which definitely could help children not to be afraid of them.

There was the classic "ugly people" = bad people scenario, which I always hate (because obviously pretty people can also be bad and I think it is especially important to teach that to children).
Plus I really hated the Centipede. I mean, how could James possibly say that he liked him straight after the first encounters proved that the Centipede was an annoying dictator who was not much better than aunts from which James ran? I just couldn't stop thinking about this the whole time, it didn't make any sense to think that Centipede is nice and funny with "undo my boots and line them in pairs", while the aunts with "chop that wood" are a lot worse.

The fact that this trip didn't really have aim or... any planned action was a bit... meh.

I can just admire the creativity and wisdom of Mr Dahl... But that does not mean that he used it this time to make a good book.