REVIEWED BY LACHLAN, 7, NSW
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl, illustrated by Quentin Blake, Puffin, ISBN 9780241558331
Lachlan’s review of James and the Giant Peach was the winner in the 2024 Young Book Reviewers’ Competition.
The story is called James and the Giant Peach. It was illustrated by Quentin Blake. He has illustrated more than three hundred books, and he was awarded the Kate Greenaway medal. He was also one of the first children classics illustrators. The writer is Roald Dahl. He was a spy, an ace fighter pilot, a chocolate historian and a medical inventor.
In this story, James had a happy life until his parents died, and he had to live with his aunts who were both lazy. One day, an old man gave James some magic and told him to put it inside a glass of water and drink it in one gulp. On the way, James tripped over and spilt the magic on the ground. The magic went into insects and the peach tree.
The two aunts, Spiker and Sponge, came out shouting there was a enormous peach on the tree. Spiker asked people, “Who wants the peach?”.
At this same time, James found a tunnel in the peach and discovered a big room. In this room, Grasshopper introduced the insects that lived there. James and the insects had a big journey to the sea and James tied string to seagulls and they flew to America.
During the journey they solved problems. Spider said that James was so smart that she wanted to be smart like him.
My favourite part was when James lost his first chance of happiness but did not give up. I felt proud because he used to be miserable but now, he is happy. They also used good team work to solve their problems.
I highly recommend this book to children of all ages because they can learn how to be resilient. If they miss a chance, they can wait for another – and that includes being patient because sometimes things can turn out better than you think. This book also can teach children the importance of teamwork.
I would give this book 5 stars.
Read chapter one of James and the Giant Peach at the publisher’s website.
Lachlan’s review was the winner of the Junior category in Alphabet Soup’s 2024 Young Reviewers’ Competition. The competition is now closed, but we post reviews by young reviewers all year round. To send us YOUR book review, read our submission guidelines. Happy reading!
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