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James and the Giant Peach is a children's novel written in 1961 by British author Roald Dahl. The first edition, published by Alfred Knopf, featured illustrations by Nancy Ekholm Burkert.
- Roald Dahl, Nancy Ekholm Burkert
- 1961
- The book was almost called 'James and the Giant Cherry' The inspiration for the giant peach came from a cherry tree in the orchard at Roald Dahl’s Buckinghamshire countryside home.
- Roald Dahl had never written for children before. James and the Giant Peach was Roald Dahl’s first conscious attempt to write for children, having spent several years previously writing short stories for adults.
- There have been a few different covers over the years. The original first edition of the book was released in 1961. It featured illustrations by Nancy Ekholm Burkert and was her first illustration work.
- Roald Dahl liked the idea of creepy crawlies as characters. Roald Dahl decided to write about insects as he felt all the interesting animals had already been written about by Beatrix Potter or A. A. Milne.
- Dahl’s Own Orchard Inspired him.
- He Really Wanted to Write About Insects.
- He Stopped Writing After A Fight with His Publisher.
- While Crafting The Story, Dahl Alienated His Trusted Agent and friend.
- He Worked Through Tragedy.
- He Selected An Unknown Artist to Illustrate The Book.
- U.S. Sales For James and The Giant Peach Were Really Slow at first.
- It Took Seven Years to Find A British Publisher.
- Dahl Took A Big Gamble on The Publishing Deal.
- He Didn’T Want It Made Into A Movie.
Dahl’s house in the English countryside had an apple orchard, where he would often go for strolls. One day, he wondered what it was that made apples grow only so big. “What would happen if it didn’t stop growing?" the author said in a 1988 interview. "Why should it stop growing at a certain size?” Writing about a giant apple didn’t seem quite right...
After deciding to write a children’s novel, Dahl pondered the sorts of creatures that should live in his story. His children loved animals, but he felt Beatrix Potter, A.A. Milne, and so many others had already covered all the interesting non-human characters. So he set his sights on insects. “There seemed to be jolly little that had not been writt...
While writing the book, Dahl learned that his American publisher, Alfred Knopf, had quietly axed publication of his earlier collection of stories, Kiss Kiss. So he stopped working on James and the Giant Peach, which Knopf had expressed enthusiasm for. Instead, he turned his attention to a screenwriting project. “As far as getting a children’s book ...
For more than a decade, Dahl relied on the support and guidance of New York-based agent Sheila St. Lawrence. She encouraged him to write James and The Giant Peachand even contributed ideas that made it into the book, like the scene where cloud men pelt the flying peach with hailstones. After Dahl signed a new agent to represent him in England, Laur...
On December 5, 1960, Dahl’s infant son, Theo, was badly injured after a New York taxi collided with his stroller. To control the buildup of fluid in Theo’s head, which took the brunt of the impact, doctors installed a shunt. The tube frequently became blocked, requiring one desperate visit to the emergency room after another for Dahl and his wife, ...
According to Sturrock, Dahl turned down several famous names, including the Danish painter Lars Bo, in favor of American Nancy Eckholm Burkert. It was her first book illustration job. And while her surreal yet wondrous pictures venerated Dahl’s choice, it appears he may have also selected her, in part, because she could be influenced. Dahl had a cl...
Despite glowing reviews in The New York Times and other publications, James and the Giant Peach only sold 2600 copies in the U.S. in its first year. Dahl’s editor at Knopf assured the author that this was often how sales trended for little-known authors, and that the book would eventually pick up steam. One thing that probably worked against Dahl w...
Hard to believe now, but Dahl had a very difficult time finding a publisher for James and the Giant Peach in his native United Kingdom. Longstanding houses sniffed at what they saw as a weird, grotesque fantasy, and some would even claim they took pride in rejecting it. It took a stroke of good fortune for a deal to finally be made. Dahl’s daughter...
Dahl was so eager to be published and taken seriously in England that he signed a risky deal that would pay him 50 percent of sales receipts—but only after Unwin had recouped production costs. Both books needed to be hits for him to see a payday—and they were. The first printing run completely sold out, and so did the next one, and the one after th...
During his lifetime, Dahl turned down numerous movie offers for James and the Giant Peach, reasoning that the story was too difficult to translate to the screen. After his death in 1990, his second wife Felicity (or Liccy as he called her) decided to put the film on market, with the express hope that Henry Selick would take charge. (Selick had dire...
As James and the bugs chat, James learns all sorts of things he’d never thought could be true. For instance, grasshoppers’ ears are on their bellies, and it’s not actually true that a ladybug’s spots correlate to her age.
The best study guide to James and the Giant Peach on the planet, from the creators of SparkNotes. Get the summaries, analysis, and quotes you need.
Overall, James and the Giant Peach really is a giant of a children’s adventure story. Obviously it has one massive giant peach but it also features oversized garden insects that create a wonderful world for children age 9+ (and adults) to lose themselves in a marvellous tale.
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Determined to find a better life, the insects bite the great peach free from its tree and launch into an amazing journey to freedom. Their travels are accompanied by much humour and plenty of ridiculous rhymes along the way in true Roald Dahl style. Perfectly illustrated by Quentin Blake.
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