Post by Mark T. Locker.

James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl. Illustrated by Quentin Blake.

I feel like I hardly need tell anyone what this novel is. Truly, this is one of the ultimate classics of Roald Dahl. I’d say it comes only second to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in terms of popularity. Matilda is a lovely book but far less adventurous than what James and his insect friends go through.

We started reading this last weeks. It’s great book for bedtime for many reasons. First of all, it’s full of all kinds of excitement, magic, adventure, and intrigue. There are all sorts of lovely things to feed a little one’s imagination and, possibly, lead them into wonderful magical dreams. Second of all, there’s nothing worse than agreeing to read just one more chapter (we negotiate that one on a near-nightly basis) only to realize that it’s past bedtime and there are still twenty pages left in the chapter! James and the Giant Peach has chapters which are usually only a few pages long. Not only does it keep the story moving along at a nice clip, but you can come out looking like a hero generously offering, “hey, why don’t we read FOUR chapters tonight?”

Once the horrors of his cruel aunts Spiker and Sponge are behind him, the adventure of James riding across the sea in a humongous peach with a number of giant talking bugs really takes off. And what a fun ride it is. If you haven’t read this one to your kid or yourself, do yourself a favor and pick it up.