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Table of Contents

Cover Story

Cover Story - Spanish Version

Mini-Lesson

Comprehension Quiz

Teacher's Guide and Worksheets

A Boy And His Bugs

Kids have loved Roald Dahl's dreamy story of James Henry Trotter and his overgrown peach for 35 years. Last week a juicy new movie version of James and the Giant Peach came rolling into theaters. Even the big, talking bugs in this colorful musical fantasy look good enough to eat.

The main story was filmed in stop-motion animation, which makes doll-like puppets appear to move by themselves. Filmmakers fashioned dolls of James, the bugs and 50 peaches. The peach models ranged from 3 inches to 20 feet across.

The animators posed the puppets in a miniature set, took one picture, then moved the puppets just slightly for the next shot. The pictures were then put together to create the movie. Shooting only 12 seconds of the movie took up to 6 days of work.

"Stop motion is funky," says animator Trey Thomas. "But it has a homemade quality that you don't get with any other form of animation."

Hey, Was That In The Book?
Loyal fans of Dahl's book will notice that the movie's story gets a bit fuzzy. Where is the silkworm? Where are the steamy cloud men? And why aren't James' icky aunts, Spiker and Sponge, squashed to death by the peach?

"The aunts were such interesting characters, it seemed a shame to get rid of them," says screenwriter Karey Kirkpatrick. "One of the big challenges was to stay true to the book."

Is The Movie Any Good?
Kids who caught a sneak preview of the movie in New York City didn't seem bugged by the new details. Sean Young, 8, just loved an underwater scene that wasn't even in the book. "The pirate skeletons and shipwrecks were best!" he said.

"My favorite was Ladybug," said Alana Bibergal, 9, of Forest Hills, New York. But she was concerned that a computer-animated rhinoceros that eats up James' parents may be too scary for very young children.

The beginning and end feature live actors, not puppets, and the ending drags on a bit too long. That's the pits after the terrific songs and jokes of the animated part. But Spiker and Sponge finally get what they deserve. And that's just peachy.

Next: Farewell To A Leader