Publisher: Listening Library
First Published: July 25, 2013
Main Genre: Children’s Fiction
Time Length: 3 hours and 18 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: Audible
PURCHASE AT:
Amazon / Barnes and Noble \ Thrift Books
Synopsis:
(From Goodreads)
James and the Giant Peach is a children’s classic that has captured young reader’s imaginations for generations.
After James Henry Trotter’s parents are tragically eaten by a rhinoceros, he goes to live with his two horrible aunts, Spiker and Sponge. Life there is no fun, until James accidentally drops some magic crystals by the old peach tree and strange things start to happen. The peach at the top of the tree begins to grow, and before long it’s as big as a house. Inside, James meets a bunch of oversized friends—Grasshopper, Centipede, Ladybug, and more. With a snip of the stem, the peach starts rolling away, and the great adventure begins!
One of my roommates said that this should be my next book, which I decided it would be nice to have a shorter and lighter next read. Pretty simple huh? Sometimes it is as simple a reason as someone recommended it to be my next book and yes this was my first time reading this.
Main Thoughts:
I listened to this on audiobook, which was an interesting experience. I have not listened to a lot of them so far. This being the third to date. I was a bit umm shocked because the other two left me a bit more engaged, which this one I found myself falling asleep during parts of it. I think this was because the last two had bigger elements or fit more with my own unique reading habits better. The thing that was enjoyable though was that this was a fantastical book that definitely was made for a child that wants an adventure story. For that, I would recommend it to a child all day every day.
FAVORITE ASPECT:
This has such a fantastical and whimsy nature to it. While at times I was like, ugh bugs are the primary other characters for a long time, I ended up finding this actually to be one of the funnest aspects of this particular book. I found the characters that I enjoyed just to be heavenly in this book. It really is just a weird little tale that doesn’t take long to read at all or in my case to listen.
WORST ASPECT:
This book has elements of child abuse within it, but largely they are just surface level. This part was bleh, but it changes quickly enough that this aspect did not take me out of wanting to continue on to listening to it. Listening to it was way different than if I had actually been reading it on a page.
FAVORITE CHARACTER:
James! I enjoyed that he was just a sweet little boy that deserved a nice life. He loved pretty much everyone in the book, especially all the bugs in the peach with him. I cannot say enough good things about James in this book because he shows what kind of person we could all strive to be: a kind and caring individual that wants to help and build other people up in our adventures and not tear them down. Thank you for the remainder of being a decent human being Mr. Dahl.
WORST CHARACTER:
Umm, this one is too easy: THE AUNTS. They are just crummy. I would like to push them down a flight of stairs. They are mean for no reason other than just deciding to be mean to people that do not deserve it, mainly James obviously. If you like the aunts then you need to back away from my blog slowly because you are part of the problem here.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
This was such light and enjoyable adventure fare about this little boy getting to get away from his mean abusive aunts. If you are a child, this is going to be a fun read for you. I think for adults, it might bore you slightly at times. This could also be because I am used to more “real world” type of stories. This one is a bit umm no it is a lot out there. I mean it is about a GIANT PEACH for goodness sake. I found myself actually being a bit disconnected as it progressed because I wanted a bit more down-to-earth elements, but for a child that is just starting to read I think those elements are what is going to drag them into this story and keep them reading. I can see this being someone’s gateway into the wonderful world of reading, but as an adult that listened to it for the first time at 44 years old it wasn’t nearly as magical. Still, I would recommend it to others because well that is who I am. All books deserve to be read, especially classics like this one.
Disney made this book into an animated film that I intend to watch tonight on 12/27/2025! I will promise to review it later, as I haven’t watched it in YEARS upon YEARS! Yes, I watched the movie before I ever read the book.
