James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl is a sweet, fictitious tale of a boy and the adventure he takes to escape his abusive aunts. He is confined to the hellish hill Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker have sucked him into, without a single playmate, toy, or game in sight. He is beaten for minor offenses or traits the ghouls deem offensive; his belly aches and grumbles constantly; and perhaps worst of all, with his parents’ death, he lost every other good thing he had ever known.

Despite his diabolical conditions, James remains hopeful. Past the gates of his imprisonment, he gazes at a soft beach; the one place he can see and remember the feeling of contentment. He dreams of the lions that guard the library down among the city blocks. He carries his current circumstances like a package that will one day be dropped off, and he continues to keep his chin up as often as a child possibly can… With the occasional good cry, if he needs one.

One day, a strange man with knowledge akin to the terrifying truth that lies within folklore approaches James and offers him a gift that will forever change his life: a bag of glowing, green worms. The instructions he gives James are detailed and difficult for a child to follow, which is something I find to be quite intentional. James gladly accepts, knowing that this may be the opportunity he has been praying for, and runs off as quickly and quietly as possible.

He drops the bag; the worms wriggle out; down, down, down into the dirt they squirm…

Defeated and distraught, James slumps back to his room, and sleeps fitfully. He awakes to find a peach on a willful tree branch, which had previously refused to treat anyone around it with a tiny blossom. It grows into a heap that his aunts profit off of, but James finds a secret within the house-sized piece of fruit…

James meets giant bugs, each blessed by the lucky worms he had dropped, and travels across the sea beside them, becoming the confident leader he was destined to be. Trials await the company of peach-goers, and incredible actions are needed to overcome them. A boy who feared being locked away forever is released and his true potential is reached.

I highly recommend this book to readers of all ages, and doubly recommend it to those who have decided it is geared to a much younger audience. Everyone can take a bite of wisdom from this masterpiece by Roald Dahl.