James and the Giant Peach by British author Roald Dahl was first published in 1961. This critically acclaimed children’s novel was made into an award-winning film in 1996. It tells the story of a giant peach that magically grows in a young boy, James’s, back garden—big enough for him to enter the center of the peach and have adventures with the insects who live in there.

Dahl is known as one of the 20th century’s greatest storytellers and has sold more than 250 million copies of his books worldwide. His literature awards include the 1983 World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement, and the British Book Awards Children's Author of the Year in 1990. Dahl's children's books are known for their surreal visuals and darkly comic style. Dahl's books often champion the kindhearted and feature heroic young protagonists. His other works for children include Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, The Witches, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The BFG, The Twits, The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me, and George’s Marvelous Medicine.

Content warning: The source text and this guide discusses child abuse.

Plot Summary

At the tender age of four, James Trotter’s idyllic life is turned upside down when his parents are eaten by an escaped rhinoceros in London. James is sent to live with his aunts, Spiker and Sponge, in a house on the top of a steep hill. After three years of isolation and abuse, James meets a little old man in the garden who gives him a bag of magical crocodile tongues. Before he can eat them, James trips, and all the green tongues wriggle into the earth by an old peach tree. James is devastated, believing that his chance of happiness is lost, but suddenly a peach grows on the barren tree.

Spiker and Sponge dance for joy as they watch the peach grow to the size of a small house, and they are soon making money by charging people to visit their miracle peach. James is not allowed to join in the fun and is sent outside at night to clean up after the visitors.

Even though he is terrified, some wonderful magic draws James to the giant peach, where he finds a tunnel that leads through the ripe flesh to the stone. In the stone, James finds a door, and behind the door he meets a large grasshopper, Old-Green-Grasshopper; a giant spider, Miss Spider; a huge, loving Ladybug; a very big, sassy Centipede, a worrywart Earthworm; a sleepy Silkworm; and, a gigantic Glowworm, who lights their new home in the peach stone. The crocodile tongues meant for James worked their magic on the insects and the peach tree instead.

James soon discovers that these giant insects are friendly and were waiting for him to join them on a mission to escape from their miserable life on the hilltop. Centipede chews through the peach stalk, freeing the peach, which rolls over Spiker and Sponge, squashing them flat. The peach rolls all the way to, and over, the famous white cliffs in England and plunges into the ocean, where the happy travelers float and their new life begins.

On their fantastical journey, James and his new friends have many highs and lows. Sharks attack the peach, but clever James comes up with a plan to lasso seagulls using Miss Spider and Silk-worm’s silk to lift them into the sky like a balloon. The plan works, and they sail all the way to New York, meeting angry Cloud-Men and seeing scary night creatures along the way. Despite their fears and hardships, the travelers are optimistic and enjoy each other’s company. They sing, dance, and share stories, forming deep bonds of love and friendship which help James to overcome the sadness and loneliness from the years of isolation and abuse he suffered with Spiker and Sponge.

When the giant peach lands in New York City, the sight of the giant insects creates panic and fear, both in police and fire officers and the citizens of New York. James, with his characteristic intelligence, kindness, and humor, quells these fears. Not only do the people of New York accept the travelers with open arms, they hail them as heroes. The giant insects all become successful and happily settle in New York City, and James’s story also has a happy ending: The peach stone becomes his house in Central Park, where hundreds of children visit him every day, clamoring to hear his stories and providing him with the playmates he desperately missed. He decides to write the entire adventure as a book, which he calls James and the Giant Peach.