Portfolio - James and the Giant Peach - Illustration
Illustration
The book design below is an
interpretation of the existing
novel "James and the Giant
Peach". I have created a modern
version of existing book cover
titles.
Chicago Tribune
James and the Giant Peach is a much-loved
children’s book written by the
world-renowned Welsh author Roald Dahl.
First published in the US in 1961 and the UK
in 1967, the book’s rich imagery and amusing
characters have made it a firm favourite of
both children and parents for over 50 years.
When poor James Henry Trotter loses his
parents in a horrible rhinoceros accident, he is
forced to live with his two wicked aunts, Aunt
Sponge and Aunt Spiker. After three years he
becomes "the saddest and loneliest boy you
could find". Then one day, a wizened old man
in a dark-green suit gives James a bag of
magic crystals that promise to reverse his
misery forever. When James accidentally
spills the crystals on his aunts' withered peach
tree, he sets the adventure in motion. From the
old tree a single peach grows, and grows, and
grows some more, until finally James climbs
inside the giant fruit and rolls away from his
despicable aunts to a whole new life…
James and the Giant Peach
Roald Dahl
James Henry Trotter and his companions
crouched close together on top of the
peach as the night began closing in around
them. Clouds like mountains towered high
above their heads on all sides, mysterious,
menacing, overwhelming.
obvious that these “things” were actually
living creatures -- tall, wispy, wraithlike,
shadowy, white creatures who looked as
though they were made out of a mixture of
cotton-wool and candyfloss and thin white
hairs.
Gradually it grew darker and darker, and
then a pale threequarter moon came up
over the tops of the clouds and cast an eerie
light over the whole scene. The giant peach
swayed gently from side to side as it floated
along, and the hundreds of silky white
strings going upward from its stem were
beautiful in the moonlight. So also was the
great flock of seagulls overhead. There was
not a sound anywhere. Traveling upon the
peach was not in the least like traveling in an
airplane.
“Oooooooooooooh!” the Ladybug said. “I
don’t like this at all!”
The airplane comes clattering and roaring
through the sky, and whatever might be
lurking secretly up there in the great cloudmountains goes running for cover at its
approach. That is why people who travel in
airplanes never see anything.
But the peach. . . ah, yes. . . the peach was a
soft, stealthy traveler, making no noise at all
as it floated along. And several times during
that long silent night ride high up over the
middle of the ocean in the moonlight, James
and his friends saw things that no one had
ever seen before.
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Once, as they drifted silently past a massive
white cloud, they saw on the top of it a group
of strange, tall, wispylooking things that
were about twice the height of ordinary men.
They were not easy to see at first because
they were almost as white as the cloud itself,
but as the peach sailed closer, it became
“Ssshh!” James whispered back. “Don’t let
them hear you! They must be Cloud-Men!”
“Cloud-Men!” they murmured, huddling
closer together for comfort.
“Oh dear, oh dear!”
“I’m glad I’m blind and can’t see them,”
the Earthworm said, “or I would probably
scream.”
“I hope they don’t turn around and see us,”
Miss Spider stammered.
“Do you think they would eat us?” the
Earthworm asked.
“They would eat you,” the Centipede
answered, grinning. “They would cut you up
like a salami and eat you in thin slices.”
The poor Earthworm began to quiver all over
with fright.
“But what are they doing?” the Old-GreenGrasshopper whispered.
“I don’t know,” James answered softly. “Let’s
watch and see.”
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