James and the Giant Peach

 James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl is a classic, but it is also a Banned book.  So we read it for the BNC Banned book group.  

It is a cute children's story about a young boy who loves his parents but they both go away together and are killed by a runaway hippopotamus.  That is so extreme it is funny.  they a series of silly and funny things happened to James.  He is taken in by two aunts who treat him terribly.  One day he meets a small man who gives some magic green bugs which he drops under a peach tree.  It magically grows a giant peach.  Inside the peach are a number of bugs.  James joins them on an adventure. 

The book was written in a different time and there are some inappropriate words or phrases that were acceptable then but are not appropriate today.  But I think instead of banning or changing the book, it should be read and the inappropriate passages discussed.  Also there are ideas that children can read about and laugh at to make them feel more secure and safe.  Like reading about how the mean aunts are killed by the giant peach and how there is a happy ending.  So children can feel that even if things are bad sometimes there are also good outcomes and positive experiences.