Review Detail

Reader reviewed by Amanda

Though I read this book several times as a child, the last time was well over 12 years ago and this reread was just as wonderful as the first time I read it.


Readers can still get lost in the story of James, a young boy sent to live with his two horrible Aunts after his parents are tragically killed. He is beaten, starved, and incredibly unhappy until something magical happens to an ordinary tree in his yard. After a mysterious concoction is given to him (and subsequently spilled on the ground), an enormous peach grows high at the top of this tree, eventually growing large enough that it can house James and his miraculous new friends, the Centipede, Miss Spider, Ladybug, Grasshopper, Gloworm (a lightening bug here in the states), and a silkworm. Working together, this interesting and complex group work together to bring the peach all the way across the Atlantic Ocean, ending up in good ole' New York City.