James and the Giant Peach
by Roald Dahl
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Book Summary Information
Author: Roald DahlIllustrator: Lane Smith
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2000-04-26
ISBN: 0140374248
Number of pages: 144
Publisher: Puffin
Book Reviews of James and the Giant Peach
Book Review: A Review of James and the Giant Peach
Summary: 4 Stars
James was orphaned as a child when his parents were killed in the streets of London. After this tragic incident, James was sent to live with two of his aunts. While living with his aunts, James endures physical, verbal and mental abuse. He lives in these horrible circumstances for three years before he meets an old man who gives him a bag of magic crystals. The old man says that these crystals will end all of James' miseries if James only follows the instructions the old man has given him. These instructions require James to make a drink using the crystals, but since he is outside, he has no water with him. On his way to the house, James trips and spills all of the crystals. Before he can gather any of them back into his bag, they quickly disappear into the dirt under a peach tree. Devastated, James thinks he has lost his only chance to escape the horrible situation he must endure every day. Little does James know that the effects of these crystals will still end his miserable life with his aunts and transport him into another world.Roald Dahl uses the talking, oversized insects to represent the various ingredients of a healthy life, which James was missing when living with his aunts. The Old-Green-Grasshopper represents a wise grandparent. The grasshopper often appears to be the leader and the ultimate authority among the insects. The night that James and the insects spend in the peach, the grasshopper tells everyone that it is time for bed (30). Also, when the spider is making beds for everyone, she makes a bed for the grasshopper first (31). This displays the respect typically given to grandparents. The spider represents the mother figure James had been lacking in his life for three years. The spider, polite and soft-spoken, makes beds for James and all of the other insects as a stereotypical mother would.
Caring family figures are not all James lacks while he is living with his Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker. James' aunts never show him any affection, but the ladybug fills this void. Just before the centipede chews through the stem of the peach, the ladybug asks James, "'Would you like me to take you under my wing so that you won't fall over when we start rolling'?" (36). This illustrates how the ladybug always considers James' well-being. Dahl uses the centipede to represent the humor James lacks after being orphaned. For instance, when James decides that he likes the centipede, he thinks, "What a change it was to hear somebody laughing once in a while" (31).
Another factor James misses while he is living with his aunts is the hospitality that the glow-worm offers. When James stays up at night to take off the centipede's shoes, the glow-worm "leaves the light on" for him and later has to be told to turn the light off (33). Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker never treat James with such hospitality. When they send him out at night to clean up, they do not even pay attention when James' mentions how dark it is outside.
Dahl uses another insect, the earthworm, to represent loyalty. The earthworm willingly risks his life to save his friends. Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker never do anything to help James out. All they ever do is tell James to do more and more work, and never provide an emotional support system for him. The silkworm represents the support system which James misses after being orphaned. When a huge amount of string is needed to lift the peach from the sea, the silkworm lends its support and helps spin the string.
James and the Giant Peach is on the banned book list because of the verbal, mental, and physical abuse James endures while living with Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker. In fact, James' aunts never call him by his name; rather they call him, " 'you disgusting little beast' or 'you filthy nuisance' or 'you miserable creature'" (2). I can understand why some people may object to this content; however, I believe that the abusive relationship is presented in such a way that it benefits those who read the book, especially children. Dahl clearly illustrates the negative impact that this relationship has on James' life and also clearly illustrates how James, a once miserable boy, changes into a happy boy when the ingredients of a happy life-- represented by the insects become a part of his life.
Despite the censorship issues James and the Giant Peach has faced, I believe that it is a great book for children to read. This book has an enormous amount of educational value presented in a way children can understand. James and the Giant Peach not only teaches children some basic science ideas through the dialogue between James and the insects, but it also teaches children how important it is to treat other people with respect.
Summary of James and the Giant Peach
Roald Dahl was a champion of the underdog and all things little?in this case, an orphaned boy oppressed by two nasty, self-centered aunts. How James escapes his miserable life with the horrible aunts and becomes a hero is a Dahlicious fantasy of the highest order. You will never forget resourceful little James and his new family of magically overgrown insects?a ladybug, a spider, a grasshopper, a glowworm, a silkworm, and the chronic complainer, a centipede with a hundred gorgeous shoes. Their adventures aboard a luscious peach as large as a house take them across the Atlantic Ocean, through waters infested with peach-eating sharks and skies inhabited by malevolent Cloudmen, to a ticker-tape parade in New York City. This happily ever after contemporary fairy tale is a twentieth-century classic that every child deserves to know. And Lane Smith's endearingly funny illustrations are a perfect match for the text.
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)
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