James and the Giant Peach

I came across a list of best children's novels and decided I'd use the list to help pick the next book I read to Noah and Adam. Despite it being a hailed classic, I had never read Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach and decided to start there.

The novel begins tragically with the young boy protagonist, James Henry Trotter, losing his parents and having to go live with his dreadful aunts. A peach in their backyard grows bigger and bigger and eventually rolls over the aunts. James is in the peach with a delightful cast of friendly insects and the group of them set off on an adventure. My kids enjoyed it (especially when the word "ass" is used). At several points in the novel there are poems (or songs) that the characters sing, which makes it fun to read aloud. I'm glad I read the novel as I found it quite enjoyable and loved Dahl's sense of humor.