Richard R. George

James is an orphan, living with his two horrible aunts, Sponge and Spiker. A mysterious man gives James some magic crystals that will make marvelous things happen to him, but James accidentally drops them on the roots of an old peach tree that doesn't grow any peaches. But then, the magic works on the tree, and it grows a giant peach. Inside the peach, James finds several giant insects, and when the peach breaks off the tree, they go on an adventure.

Mostly importantly are the insect show more characters that inhabit the peach, all play their part in the journey and help educate the reader on natural history.From the glow worms light to the spiders web used for hammocks.
The combination of Dahl's bizarre imagination and complete disregard for rules makes him the perfect author for distracted and imaginative people. show less

Another run through Wonka's Inferno, in which spoiled children are sent to the appropriate level of Hell for the sins of gluttony, greed, sloth, etc. Wonka is a very preachy and mean-spirited candy vigilante with the Oompah Loompahs jumping in to add emphasis on the crimes being punished. Too twisted for me.

This play adaptation of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is front-loaded with some very long expository monologues that must be quite challenging for the actors to memorize.

This is a good example of why it can be difficult to make a great book into a passable play. Although the movie captured the charm of the book well, the play fails to deliver. An intrusive, annoying narrator delivers long expository speeches, and the dialogue is silly and stilted, trying to follow the book exactly. But what was charming in the book doesn't work in the truncated version for the play. And there is absolutely no character development. All the care taken in both book and movie show more to develop Wonka's zany character is missing here. The character of Grandpa Joe doesn't come through at all, and Charlie is nearly non-existent. The annoying brats characters are shoved at you, but there is no real time for them to truly annoy before they are punished and off the stage. In short, this adaptation does not work. show less

“James and the Giant Peach” is a great book to read to children or introduce as a shared reading classroom assignment. The overall plot of this story is about James, who is forced to live with his ‘evil’ Aunt and Uncle after the tragic death of his parents. James is miserable but eventually runs into someone who changes his life. I liked this book for a few different reasons. First, although it began with the tragedy of James losing his parents, I like that this book includes a show more humorous twist. A rhinoceros ate his parents, and I think young readers would spark interest after reading something silly like that. I also liked that this book includes a timeline. It began with the death of his parents, the moving process to his aunts/uncles home and then a few years passed before anything exciting happened to him. The author did a good job re-grabbing the readers attention with such vivid descriptions. show less