James Henry Trotter, an ordinary four year old boy, has had a happy life but is orphaned as a result of a bizarre and terrible accident; his parents were eaten up by a rhino which had escaped from the London Zoo (although rhinos are, in truth, herbivorous). He is sent to live with his two maiden aunts, Spiker and Sponge, who subject him to a variety of physical and mental abuse.
One day, three years later, while chopping wood in the garden, James, then age seven, meets a strange man who mysteriously knows James's plight and gives him a small sack containing the ingredients for a magic potion, the consumption of which, the stranger promises, will bring James wealth, happiness, and great adventure. Unfortunately, while running back to the house to hide the sack, James trips and drops it. It bursts and the magic green crystals sink into the ground and vanish without a trace ?or so it then seems. James is horrified at the loss of what seemed to be his only opportunity for escape from his wretched aunts. But things take another odd turn when a long-barren peach tree in the garden puts forth a single fruit which grows to almost twice the size of the tree. Spiker and Sponge realize they can make money, so they charge people to see the giant peach. One night, James, who has been shoved out of the house to pick up the litter from the crowd, crawls inside the giant peach, where he finds a most bizarre group of friends ?all giant creepy-crawlies: the Centipede, Miss Spider, the Old-Green-Grasshopper, the Silkworm, the Earthworm, Mrs. Ladybird and the Glowworm. The peach, with the help of the Centipede, breaks off the tree, rolls over and flattens and kills James's two aunts, cuts a swath of destruction through the countryside, and tumbles into the Atlantic Ocean. Seeking to float to New York City to begin new lives, the friends embark on an adventure across the sea on the giant peach. Among the things they encounter before reaching the city are a swarm of sharks and air-elemental creatures called Cloud Men, who are responsible for painting rainbows. In the end, upon reaching the city, James and his unusual friends are accepted into society and have wonderful lives in America. The stone of the marvelous peach is enshrined in Central Park. James, having to retell his story to fascinated friends over and over, decides to write an account of the adventure ?the book which the reader has just finished.
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