James and the Giant Peach is one of Roald Dahl’s most popular books.  The story is about a boy named James Henry Trotter, who is sent to live with his two horrible aunts after his parents had been killed by a zoo animal.  Life is miserable for James until an old man comes along and gives him a bag full of small crystals.  The man claims that the crystals contain more power and magic “than in all the rest of the world put together.”  Unfortunately, James accidentally drops the crystals on the ground under a peach tree and loses them.  To his surprise, a peach on the tree soon grows to an unnatural size.  The giant peach ends up as big as a house.

One night, James decides to sneak out of the house to inspect the monstrous peach.  Getting closer, he notices a hole on the side of the peach.  He crawls into the hole and through a tunnel until he reaches the pit.  The pit of the giant peach has a door cut into it.  James pushes it open and crawls inside.  To his surprise, seven oversized bugs are living inside the pit.  James is frightened at first, but he quickly grows accustomed to the strange creatures.  One of the giant bugs cuts the stem of the peach.  The peach rolls away with everyone inside.  James and his new friends set off on an exciting journey.

I like the character of James in this book, but to be honest, I like the bugs even more.  I especially like Centipede, Old-Green-Grasshopper, and Earthworm.  I think Earthworm is my favorite character of all.  Even though he often seems gloomy and pessimistic, he is very entertaining as he quarrels with the other bugs.  He usually fights with Centipede.  The interactions between the bugs are very amusing.

I have loved reading Roald Dahl’s books since I was very young.  This is one of the first books by the author that I read, so I still feel nostalgic about it.  I have ready many other Roald Dahl books, but this is still one of my favorites.  I would highly recommend this book to anyone, especially if they have not had a chance to read one of Roald Dahl’s books yet.

James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl is available to check out from the Mission Viejo Library. It is also available to download for free from Libby.