James and the Giant Peach
Fiction
By Roald Dahl
Reviewed by Devlin Farr
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
At age 4 James is a happy 4 year old living with his parents. But when they are eaten viciously by rhinos, he is an orphan and is forced in to the “care” of his two aunts. Aunt Spiker and Aunt Sponge, who look like their names, are very cruel and force him to do hard labor. One particular time, he was broken down to tears even after 3 years at this terrible place. He goes behind the house and cries. Then the bush in front of him rustles and a little man comes out and gives James a bag of worm like creatures who are magic once set of. He is told they will solve all of his troubles and immediately James goes inside and does the absurd things to set them off. But when he’s getting ready to ingest them, he trips and they fall all over the ground and sink in it. Then the dead peach tree near where the magic things were dumped began growing a peach. Not only was this amazing because it was absolutely barren, but the peach didn’t stop growing until it was as large as a house. Spiker and Sponge sell tickets to see the peach and force James to stay inside. But at night when he was forced to pick up the litter, starved and hungry as always, he decided to grab a bite from the peach. James looked below and found a tunnel leading towards the center. James followed it until he hit his head on the pit. Then a door opened leading into the pit. He went in it and found huge monsters! But once they had a chance to explain themselves he realized they were just enormous bugs. Centipede, one of the huge insects, cut the stem and the peach began to roll away towards the European side of the Atlantic Ocean. They land in the water and hysteria breaks loose, but the giant peach floats! From here the adventure has just begun for 7 year old James. Read this amazing story to see all the perils they face during their journey.
Though a quick read at 126 pages, James and the Giant Peach was a very enticing and interesting adventure story. With many detailed illustrations a reader can really visualize what is happening over the course of reading all 126 pages. Roald Dahl, a much known author, has made over 15 books and this is one of the best. He, as an author, has received many praises and awards for his illustrious career. This book is good for when you need something to get you going on the right path and I recommend it to anyone who can read. Also, if you really liked the story, it has been turned into a movie, so check that out also. So overall, this is a good 5-star read.
