Author Roald Dahl Illustrator nancy ekholm

Language English Genre(s) Children's novel Publisher Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Publication date 1961 Media type Paperback ISBN ISBN 0-375-81424-8 James and the Giant Peach (1967) is a popular children's novel by English author Roald Dahl.

Because of the stories macabre and occasionally frightening content, it has become a regular target of the censors and is no. 56 on the American Library Association's top 100 list of most frequently challenged books.[1]

SynopsisEdit

When he was four years old, James's parents were gobbled up by a rhinoceros not far from their seaside home, and he has since been forced to live with his horrid aunts, Spiker Trotter and Sponge Trotter, who treat him like a slave, keep him in the attic and only feed him fish heads. One afternoon when he is crying in the woods James stumbles across a friendly wizard, who mysteriously understands his plight and gives him some magic crystals that he promises will bring happiness. However, on the way back to the house James spills it onto a peach, which subsequently grows to an abnormal size.

Venturing inside the cavernous fruit, he discovers a rag-tag band of anthropomorphic insects who take him on a weird but wonderful journey...

CharactersEdit

• Earthworm one of the protagonists
• Ladybug one of the protagonists
• Miss Spider Centipede's love interest
• Grasshopper the tiragonist

• James Henry Trotter the main protagonist.

• Centipede the deurtagonist

• Aunt Spiker the secondary antagonist

• Aunt Sponge the teirtary antagonist

• The Glowworm the minor protagonist

• Old Man the supporting protagonist
• The Cloud Rhino and the main antagonist.

References in the book to other Roald Dahl worksEdit

James and the Giant Peach possibly references Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in the beginning and end of the novel. When the peach rolls off the tree, it rolls through a "famous chocolate factory", possibly a reference to Willy Wonka's chocolate factory (the illustration even depicts the word "WONKA" on the side of the building). Towards the end of the book, people in New York City accuse the passengers aboard the peach to be Vermicious Knids, Whangdoodles, Snozzwangers or even Hornswogglers. All of those animals (except the former) are mentioned by Willy Wonka to live in Loompaland, which is also the home of Oompa-Loompas. Vermicious Knids are extraterrestrials, and feature in the sequel book, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator.