James and the Giant Peach

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American novelist Bret Easton Ellis has cited James and the Giant Peach as his favourite children's book: The only complaint that some may have about this book is that he uses the word "ass" a few times in it, and even though I was told about it, I was still surprised when I stumbled over their use. Because I was reading this to my son, it wasn't a problem, I just substituted a word for it or skipped over it. If a child is reading the book on their own, well, I'm a big believer that if the adult cares so much, they should be reading the books first and then discussing it with their kids. Much of the great literature that's out there has ideas that are taboo in polite circles or are difficult concepts to explain when looking at human history. But that's what makes them great. And it's much better to educate your child, and do it yourself, before they get misconstrued opinions from the world at large or other teachers. I remember many teachers I had that pushed their opinions, good and bad on students when reading literature. That's a parent's responsibility. As for this book, it was excellent. And I highly recommend it for your first chapter books for your child. Crocodile tongues! One thousand long slimy crocodile tongues boiled up in the skull of a dead witch for twenty days and nights with the eyeballs of a lizard! Add the fingers of a young monkey, the gizzard of a pig, the beak of a green parrot, the juice of a porcupine, and three spoonfuls of sugar. Stew for another week, and then let the moon do the rest!" EP10: Taika is joined by Jojo Rabbit co-stars Roman & Archie to read James & the Giant Peach #WithMe The Silkworm – A female silkworm, who assists Miss Spider in the production of thread, both before and after the adventure.

Later, James realizes that the group has reached New York City. The wing of a passing plane severs the strings, and the falling peach lands on the spire of the Empire State Building. It is mistaken for a bomb at first, resulting in the arrival of police and firemen. Calming the crowd, James tells his story, and becomes friends with many children in New York; they eat the peach and James and his friends get their own jobs, now residing in Central Park, in the pit of the peach.Magic beans transforms an ordinary peach into a gigantic piece of fruit and its surrounding insect populace human-sized, before going on to rescue James Henry Trotter from his sad life with his evil aunts, Spiker and Sponge. Then I saw the movie and of course, really loved it. It was whimsical and visually appealing, even if it did deviate from the source material in parts. Quentin Blake has been drawing ever since he can remember. He taught illustration for over twenty years at the Royal College of Art, of which he is an honorary professor. He has won many prizes, including the Hans Christian Andersen Award for Illustration, the Eleanor Farjeon Award and the Kate Greenaway Medal, and in 1999 he was appointed the first Children’s Laureate. In the 2013 New Year’s Honours List he was knighted for services to illustration.

Kirka, Danica. "Critics reject changes to Roald Dahl books as censorship". abc NEWS . Retrieved 3 March 2023. James lives with two terrible old women whose main form of parenting is verbal abuse and infringement of child labor laws. On a more hopeful note, the underlying message of this story is that there are ways to escape a troubling homelife. The verbal and emotional abuse James receives is a bit over-the-top, but that might be the reality for some kids. How do they escape that? And while they can't fly away on a giant peach, ultimately, this story suggests that abused kids can find possible escapes through friends and writing. That the power of relationships and creativity and imagination are all a person needs to take them anywhere they want to go i.e. it shows kids that no matter how bad things may seem, or how bad they get, there is always hope. It is really funny. The horrible aunts are really mean to James and it is a bit sad at the beginning but then when it gets to the bit when he goes inside the peach and so on it gets really funny and stupid at the same time. It is really silly. I could go on and on. I recommend this book for 6+. FYI - Wrote this review ~2017 from memory as I want to have a review for everything I remember reading. If I messed it up, let me know! LOL :)I liked the more macabre elements of the story like the oddly sinister Cloud-Men and the “immense grey batlike creature swooping down towards them out of the dark” - Quentin Blake’s drawing really sells them too. The batlike creature is a really weird inclusion as it has no bearing on the plot and is never mentioned again. But that kind of strange detail is partly why you re-read as you notice stuff you didn’t the first time!

This book is pure nostalgia, a nod to my earlier years of life when I was absolutely in love with the movie version. It was my second childhood favorite film of Tim Burton’s, the first being Nightmare Before Christmas! I don’t know if it’s because I saw the movie first and it’s so near and dear to my heart, but I’d have to say the movie is slightly better than the book. It could also be the differences between the two? Despite that though, I still really enjoyed getting lost in the book. It was a fun adventure! Reading it again as an adult, my strongest impressions are of just how much FUN this whole adventure is. Roald Dahl manages the perfect blend of whimsical, frightful, exciting, and tender elements. I think that's why his books can be every bit as appealing to adults as they are to children. I'd be laughing one minute at Centipede's songs about Aunts Sponge and Spiker, and grossing out a few minutes later when Centipede tells Earthworm that the Cloud-Men will eat him: "They would cut you up like a salami and eat you in thin slices."In James and the Giant Peach, more than seventy changes were made, such as removing references to Sponge as fat (including writing an entirely new poem), changing queer to strange, removing references to skin colour (such as "his face white with horror", "looking white and thin", and the Earthworm's "lovely pink skin"), and changing Cloud-Men to Cloud-People. [14] [15] Original text Justin Kroll (22 May 2017). "Sam Mendes in Early Talks to Direct 'Pinocchio' Live-Action Movie". Variety . Retrieved 22 May 2017. Mendes will no longer direct the "James and the Giant Peach" remake for Disney, which he was attached to less than a year ago.