Advantages: a fabulous adventure
Disadvantages: quite scarey and a bit episodic

...If your child is new to Roald Dahl then they may be in for a shock. Poor James loses both parents in the first few pages in a hideous Rhino incident which happens when they are on a day trip away from him (no increase in seperation anxiety there then!) And just when you thought things couldn't get any worse for poor James he is left in the 'care' of two vicious and abusive aunts who beat him and starve him of food, affection and books. His fortunes turn when he meets a strange little man in the garden with a bag of magic glowing bean things. Cue a giant peach, some outsized insects, two squashed aunts and a whole host of wild adventures. Those of you who have encountered Roald Dahl before will be well used to his world view in which most adults are evil and most children are abandoned/abused/ generally badly treated but it can... Read review

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Advantages: Easy to read, Great characters
Disadvantages: too easy

...bent over. They charged people to come and see the peach which made them rich. But one night James sneaks out to see the peach and finds a giant hole behind it I wonder what he will do. ~~~Cost~~~ This book costs £4.79 from Amazon new and costs £0.01 new and used. http://www.amazon.co.uk/James-Giant-Peach-Roald-Dahl/dp/0141311355/ref=sr1 1/202-5773925-5747056?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1175980990&sr=1-1 is the website to get it on. ~~~My Opinion~~~ Overall I think is book it good. It is exciting and has loads of events in it. I think this book is worth the money. I would read this book again but only once. It's a good story and the characters are great. It's not addictive but it's readable. Compared from similar stories from this author it's quite good. Compared to other works it's also quite good... Read review

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Advantages: see op
Disadvantages: none

...James and the Giant peach is one of the many classic books written by personally my favourite author Roald Dahl. This book has kept me occupied through many times and to tell you the truth it still does! Before I start babbling about anything else I think I should get straight to the books story. The story is about a Four year old boy whose life was full of love and happiness until his parents were eaten up by an angry escaped rhinoceros. The story goes on to tell you how he goes to live with his two Aunts Spiker and Sponge, these two grizzly women treat James like a slave and abuse him daily, James is afraid of what they will do to him so he never asks for anything of them, until one day he suggests to his two Aunts to go to the beach, their reaction is obviously to punish him so James runs to the bottom of the garden behind... Read review

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Advantages: Brilliant story, well adapted for teh screen
Disadvantages: The real life bits

...James And The Giant Peach is a splendid film version (part real life, part animation) of a wonderful book by Roald Dahl. It tells the story of a boy who is orphaned and goes to live with his foul old aunts but ends up sailing away on a giant peach which grows in his garden. Sounds pretty naff, don't it? But rest assured the reality is a wonderful thing and the book is as good as any that Dahl ever wrote. The film version, however, is absolutely brilliant as our young hero is accompanied on his maiden voyage by all manner of friendly but very prickly giant insects (the spider is a worrying, perverse, very sexy creation). I've seen the film several times and believe me it doesn't age with the viewings - this is one of those timeless family entertainment films that gives the genre a good name. I don't know anyone apart from one... Read review

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Advantages: brilliantly described characters
Disadvantages: nothing really

..."Marvellous things will start happening to you" A strange little man to a boy said this when he gave to him a bag containing tiny green things. However, the boy falls and drops the bag under an old peach tree. He thinks his dreams are over but that was until he noticed a large peach was growing. This is the story of the saddest and loneliest little boy that you could ever find, called James Henry Trotter. He lost his parents in a most unfortunate incident when a rhinoceros escaped from the zoo and ate them. As an orphan, he is looked after by his aunts, two delightfully wicked characters called Spiker and Sponge. The former is lean, tall and bony and the latter is enormously fat and very short. They treat him very badly so he is glad when he finds an entrance to the peach and climbs inside. There he meets some wonderful creatures... Read review

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Advantages: tender and poignant
Disadvantages: slow, depressing, not the best book in the world

...Advantages can be quite tender and poignant Disadvantages not the best book I ever read. Quite depressing at times There are not many giants featured in the general fiction section of the libary. They tend to be confined either to the children's section or perhaps fantasy. They are usually blood thirsty, cruel monsters (well apart from the Big Friendly Giant). There is an exception James Sweatt in the Giant's House is a normal teenage boy except that he is eight feet tall. The Giant's House by Elizabeth McCracken is a novel set in 1950s small-town America. Peggy Cort is the town's librarian who becomes emotionally attached to James Sweatt, the giant of the tittle. At first it is a general interest as James is barely out of childhood. As time goes by and James grows into a young man Peggy begins to see James in a different light... Read review

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