James and the Giant Peach

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For the film adaptation, see James and the Giant Peach (film).

James and the Giant Peach book cover

James and the Giant Peach is a children's book by Roald Dahl, originally illustrated by Nancy Ekholm Burkert, first published in the USA in 1961 by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. and then in London in 1967 by Allen & Unwin. Because of the book's content it has been the frequent target of censors and appears on the American Library Association list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-2000 at number fifty six. [1]

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

1 Synopsis
2 Film version
3 See also
4 Editions

[edit] Synopsis

James Henry Trotter, an ordinary four-year-old boy, has had a happy life but is orphaned as a result of a bizarre and terrible accident (his parents were supposedly swallowed by a rhino, which is, in truth, herbivorous). He is sent to live with his two aunts, Spiker and Sponge, who subject him to a variety of physical and mental abuse.

One day while chopping wood in the garden, James, then age seven, meets a strange man who mysteriously knows James's plight and gives him a small sack containing the ingredients for a magic potion, the consumption of which, the stranger promises, will bring James wealth, happiness, and great adventure. Unfortunately, while running back to the house to hide the sack, James trips and drops it. It bursts and the magic green crystals sink into the ground and vanish without a trace - or so it then seems. James is horrified at the loss of what seemed to be his only opportunity for escape from his wretched aunts. But things take another odd turn when a long-barren peach tree in the garden puts forth a single fruit which grows to almost twice the size of the tree. Spiker and Sponge realize they can make money, so they charge people to see the giant peach. One night, James, who has been shoved out of the house to pick up the litter from the crowd, crawls inside the giant peach, where he finds a most bizarre group of friends: a giant Centipede, Miss Spider, Old-Green-Grasshopper, Silkworm, Mrs. Ladybug, and Glowworm. The peach, with the help of the centipede, breaks off the tree, rolls over and flattens James's two aunts, and into the Atlantic Ocean. Seeking to float to New York city to begin new lives, the friends embark on an adventure across the sea on the giant peach. Among the things they encounter before reaching the city are a swarm of sharks and air-elemental creatures called Cloud Men. In the end, upon reaching the city, James and his friends are accepted into society, but James, having to retell his story to fascinated friends over and over, decides to write an account of the adventure, which is supposedly the book itself.