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James and the Giant Peach (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Quentin Blake (Illustrator)
Key Phrases: peach stem, silk string, Miss Spider, Aunt Spiker, Aunt Sponge (more...)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (218 customer reviews)
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  Hardcover, September 9, 2002 $10.85 -- --
  Paperback, April 25, 2000 $6.99 -- --
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  Unknown Binding, December 31, 1993 -- -- --
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

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) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.


From Publishers Weekly

Lane Smith trades stinky cheese for fantastic fruit with his black-and-white illustrations for Roald Dahl's classic 1961 novel, James and the Giant Peach. The reissue is timed to coincide with the release of the Disney animated motion picture based on Smith's suitably subversive visual interpretation.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.
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Product Details

  • Reading level: Ages 9-12
  • Hardcover: 160 pages
  • Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers; Revised edition (September 10, 2002)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0375814248
  • ISBN-13: 978-0375814242
  • Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (218 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #12,034 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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    #15 in  Books > Children's Books > Authors & Illustrators, A-Z > ( B ) > Blake, Quentin
    #16 in  Books > Children's Books > Authors & Illustrators, A-Z > ( D ) > Dahl, Roald

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Roald Dahl
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Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
peach stem, silk string
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Miss Spider, Aunt Spiker, Aunt Sponge, Chief of Police, James Henry Trotter, First Officer, Head of the Fire, Empire State Building, Giant Peach
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Customer Reviews

218 Reviews
5 star:
 (147)
4 star:
 (52)
3 star:
 (11)
2 star:
 (6)
1 star:
 (2)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (218 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite book from childhood., October 12, 2003
This review is from: James and the Giant Peach (Paperback)
I first read "James and the Giant Peach" when I was 9 years old (I am 14 now), and reread it so many times that I actually know the story by heart! This book is funny, exciting and makes me use my imagination.

The story: After his parents are eaten by a rhinoceros (I would've made a tiger eat them instead, since in real life rhinos don't eat meat!), young James Henry Trotter has to go live with his two mean aunts named Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker, who treat him very very badly. Poor James has to live with his aunts for three whole years until one day a mysterious man gives him a bag of magic things. (He tells him they are crocodile tongues.) James is so excited that he starts running back to the house, but when he is underneath an old peach tree in the garden he accidentally slips and spills all the tiny little things and they dig themselves into the roots of the tree.
Suddenly a peach appears on the very tip of the tree and then starts to grow and grow and doesn't stop until it is as big as a house! The aunts are so excited about this that instead of immediately eating pieces off the peach they start charging people to see the peach. After everyone has left they force James to pick up all the litter that the people left behind. Poor James is left all alone in the dark! For no particular reason, James walks up to the peach and starts touching it. He notices that there is a rather large hole in the peach. He crawls in, and the hole becomes a tunnel. He keeps on crawling until he reaches the center of the peach. He meets seven oversized insects who turn out to have swallowed some of the tiny little things that James had spilled. When the stem snips off (with some help, of course), the peach rolls off and the eight travellers embark on the adventure of a lifetime!

Roald Dahl was my favorite childhood author; I have read most of his children's books, and this is my personal favorite.

I recommend this book to anyone between the ages of 7 and 12.


 
18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars 4 1/2* Old-Fashioned Dickensian Fun, February 20, 2003
This review is from: James and the Giant Peach (Isis Large Print for Children Windrush) (Hardcover)
(I am reviewing the 1988 Windrush large print version of the original 1961 book by Dahl. Illustrations are by Michel Simeon.)

This fanciful book's old-fashioned style and content almost feels as if it were written at the turn of the 19th Century, and the James' initial misery recalls Dickens. The writing's rough edges make it seem more like a personal story, rather than the product of some anonymous conglomerate.

Unfortunately, the beginning of the book (where James magically escapes from his aunts) seems contrived, the aunts are unbelievably cruel, and the writing is somehow flat. However, the book picks up after James and his newfound insect friends escape via a magic peach. The bantering and arguing insect personalities are reminiscent of those in "Winnie the Pooh" and "The Wizard of Oz." (The feuding Centipede and Worm are a bit like emotionally labile Tigger and pessimistic Eeyore; the "LadyBird" plays a role similar to the Scarecrow.) The insects' squabbling and fear is balanced by James' good-hearted and well-reasoned actions that save them from sharks, the angry "Cloud People" (who throw hail, water, and rainbow-making paint at them), and the fearful citizens of New York City.

Dahl has lots of word play ("Oh, just look at the vermicious gruesome face!"), and songs done in a kind of "Alice of Wonderland" meets Broadway style: "I've eaten many strange and scrumptious dishes in my time, Like jellied gnats and dandyprats and earwigs cooked in slime, And mice with rice-they're really nice/When roasted in their prime. (But don't forget to sprinkle them with just a pinch of grime.)" As you can see, the humor (and some of Michel Simeon's illustrations for the 1988 edition) is sometimes fun-gothic, and the demise of the aunts is not like that pictured in the movie based on the book (They get run over by the peach.) Overall, however, and despite its slow beginning, the book is stylish and lots of fun.



 
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Graet Stuff For Children!!!!!!!!!, November 24, 2007
By Geetha Krishnan (Kerala, India) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: James and the Giant Peach (Paperback)
This is a great book for children from 4 to 10. I am way past that age but I still enjoyed it. Dahl's style of writing is excellent and the story is quite simple and interesting. All in all, an excellent book and I would recommend anyone with children to buy it.

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 		 Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Perfect Read-Aloud
I had a love-hate relationship with Dahl and with fantasy and quirky books in general as a child. Choosing to listen to this (read very ably by Jeremy Irons) with Kate and Lexi at...
Published 9 days ago by Kristen Stewart

5.0 out of 5 stars Student Review from Ms. Gehrke's Class
If you like fantasy, you should listen to this. This book, James and the Giant Peach is fantastic book because James sails away in a GIANT peach with GIANT insects.
Published 10 days ago

5.0 out of 5 stars very happy
I was very happy the book got here on time just as they said, and in excellent condition.
Published 2 months ago by momzilla

5.0 out of 5 stars Way Better than the Movie
I loved Roald Dahl when I was a kid so I've been waiting eagerly for my son to become old enough to be interested in books with chapters.
Published 5 months ago by K. Eadington

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Fantasy
James and the Giant Peach

Have you ever wonder what it's like if your parents had died?
Published 5 months ago

5.0 out of 5 stars A childhood flashback
I was fortunate to have a 3rd grade teacher who loved to read to the class after recess.

This was one of the books and definitely an easy read..
Published 8 months ago by Hoolia

5.0 out of 5 stars James and the Giant Peach By Roald Dahl
James and the Giant Peach is a wonderful and enchanting story written by Roald Dahl, one of my favorite authors. This story begins with a little boy named James.
Published 8 months ago by Hannah Choi

4.0 out of 5 stars Exellent edition
Having missed out on the experience of James and the Giant Peach as a child, I decided to read it now.
Published 9 months ago by Stefan Yates

5.0 out of 5 stars still a gem
James and the giant peach was a christmas request from a daughter for a grand daughter. We have read this book in our family for at least forty years- passing from one generation...
Published 10 months ago by D. mack

5.0 out of 5 stars Still a favorite
I just re- read this book for the first time since I was probably 10 years old, and I'm so glad to say that I loved it every bit as much (perhaps more!
Published 10 months ago by Julie Hedlund

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