James And The Giant Peach

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

CREATIVE WRITING: “James’s Life After the Adventure in the Peach”

In this creative writing activity, students will provide an epilogue about James’s life in New York.

Dahl’s novel ends with James living in New York City. Imagine that you have been tasked with writing an epilogue to Dahl’s famous story that focuses on the years after the end of the peach adventure. Consider the following questions as you draft your epilogue:

• What does James spend his time in New York City doing?
• Does he still keep in touch with his friends from the peach? If so, how and what do they talk about?
• How does he feel about his aunts now, looking back on the situation years later?
• What are his future plans?

After drafting your epilogue, share it with the class in a presentation. Reflect upon how the themes of The Strength of Love, Friendship, and Trust to Overcome Adversity; Acceptance Without Judgment or Preconception; and The Role of Optimistic Perseverance in Happy Endings are present in your classmates’ epilogues.

Teaching Suggestion: This Short Activity invites students to use their creativity in the context of a writing and presentation exercise. Encourage students to be as creative as possible in their pieces, while also maintaining Dahl’s characterization, plot, and setting details.

Differentiation Suggestion: For an alternative creative writing exercise, consider also the following Prompt: Select one of James’s companions and tell their story before the adventure with the peach. What was their life like? How did they meet James, and how was this a turning point in their story?

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. At the beginning of the novel, James suddenly loses his support system, causing him to feel lonely.  

• In which ways does James’s loneliness connect with his environment? (topic sentence)
• Compare and contrast James’s feelings when he is with his aunts compared to when he is with his companions in the peach.
• How do these two situations speak to the novel’s larger theme of The Strength of Love, Friendship, and Trust to Overcome Adversity?

2. Consider how James views his new companions in the peach.  

• What are his initial perceptions and judgments of his companions? (topic sentence)
• Do these judgments change as the novel progresses? If so, how?
• How do James’s original thoughts about his companions speak to the larger theme of Acceptance Without Judgment or Preconception?

3. James endures hardships while living with Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker.  

• Why was James’s life with his aunts so difficult? (topic sentence)
• Identify one or two moments in the text where James struggles with his living environment with his aunts.
• How does James’s journey from his aunts to the peach speak to the theme of The Role of Optimistic Perseverance in Happy Endings?

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. Consider the role of the peach in supporting James and his companions. In what ways does the peach provide for the group? How do James and his companions feel about the peach by the end of the novel? Give both physical and emotional examples using passages from the text.

2. How does Dahl personify the insects in the story? What does each insect’s personality contribute to the group of friends? How do these personalities converge and diverge at different moments in the text? In which ways do the array of personalities contribute to the “happy ending” at the end of the text? Explain.

Multiple Choice and Long Answer Questions create ideal opportunities for whole-text review, exams, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. Which of the following words best describe James’s first three years at his aunts’ house?

A) Exciting

B) Lonely

C) Studious

D) Carefree

2. What does James believe he can see in the distance from his position at the top of the hill?

A) The Giant Peach

B) The Cliffs of Dover

D) His parents’ house

D) The lights of the city

3. Which of the following words best describes how James feels after his interaction with the old man?

A) Apprehensive

B) Disgusted

C) Thrilled

D) Relaxed

4. Read the sentence from Chapter 7.

“Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker began walking slowly round the peach, inspecting it very cautiously from all sides. They were like a couple of hunters who had just shot an elephant and were not quite sure whether it was dead or alive.”

Which of the following literary devices does the author use in this excerpt?

A) Allusion

B) Metaphor

C) Personification

D) Simile

5. What does the Centipede list in the song he sings in Chapter 14?

A) The brothers and sisters he has at home

B) The people who used to live in the aunts’ house

C) The interesting places that his companions will go to and the people they will meet

D) The names of his best friends in a nearby city

6. Which of the following artistic expressions punctuates Dahl’s narrative?

A) Poems

B) Mosaics

C) Riddles

D) Songs

7. Which of the following phrases best describes what the Old-Green-Grasshopper does to entertain his companions?

A) Recite poetry

B) Compose elaborate sonnets

C) Play music on his body

D) Dance traditional grasshopper dances

8. Read this sentence about the Cloud-Men from Chapter 28.

“There were no noses, no mouths, no ears, no chins—only the eyes were visible in each face, two small black eyes glinting malevolently through the hairs.”

What is the meaning of the word “malevolently” as it is used in the sentence?

A) Lovingly

B) Kindly

C) Gently

D) Cruelly

9. Which of the following sentences is true about the Cloud-Men?

A) They control the weather.

B) They adore visitors.

C) They look like frogs.

D) They enjoy singing songs.

10. Which of the following words best describes James and his companions’ futures after the incident with the peach?

A) Successful

B) Tragic

C) Unknown

D) Private

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating text details to support your response.

1. What are the three major settings of the novel? How do the settings influence the way that James feels?

2. Who is the narrator? How does the narrator connect with the protagonist and the antagonist of the story?