Chapter 1
At four years-old, James Henry Trotter lived with
his parents in a wonderful house along the sea, until his parents were eaten by
a rhinoceros during a day trip to London. Soon after his parents' death, James
was sent to live with his aunts, bringing nothing with him but a pair of
pajamas and a toothbrush.Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker forced James to do all the
house work, locked him up for punishment, and never let him leave their house
and garden. From the top of the hill that the house was on, James could see
woods, fields, and sometimes his house. There was little for James to do in the
house or garden, and the only thing that remained on Aunt Sponge and Aunt
Spiker's unpleasant property was an ancient peach tree that never grew peaches.
Hassan
Khan VI-A
Chapter 2
Three years after James began living with his aunts,
on a day a rather peculiar, very peculiar, and fantastically peculiar moment
occurs. James' two aunts watch him while he chops wood in the heat, each of
them talking loudly about her own beauty, complimenting her own eyes, hair,
clothing, and other bodily features through in a song.While James chops wood,
he thinks of other children in the world and their happiness. At one moment, he
is overwhelmed by his thoughts and begins to cry. When his aunts begin to yell
at him, he begs them to take him to the
beach one day. Aunt Spiker and Aunt Sponge threaten to beat James, and James
runs away to a corner of the garden and begins to cry hysterically.
Sohaib Siddiqui
VI-A
Chapter 3
James is crying in the corner of the garden when an
Old Man appears from behind the bushes. This is a small Old Man who rests on
his cane for support, and he calls James to come closer to him. When James
moves towards the man, the old man reveals a small white paper bag filled with
tiny green things that resemble crystals, each one about the size of a grain of
rice. Soon James sees that the tiny green crystals are moving, and the Old Man
tells James that these little items had "more power and magic...than the
rest of the world put together." When James asks what the items are, the
Old Man responds that they are "crocodile tongues boiled up in the skull
of a dead witch for 20 days with the eyeballs of a lizard." After this
brief yet confusing explanation, the Old Man gives the bag to James and tells
James that the items are now his.
Chapter 4
In Chapter 4, the Old
Man gives James special instructions for using the moving magic crystals. James
must pour the little green things into a large jug of water and then add 10 of
his own hairs to the mixture, one by one. As soon as the mixture begins to
boil, James is to drink it down, and then magical things will begin to happen
to him. He will no longer be miserable. The Old Man gives one last instruction before he leaves James - don't let
the green things escape, or else they will work their magic upon somebody else
instead!
Sabrina Saif
and Taha VI-C
Chapter 5
James
was running back towards the house as fast as he could go. He would do it all
in the kitchen, he told himself - if only he could get in there without Aunt
Spiker and Aunt Sponge seeing him. He swerved away from them so as to go round
the other side of the house, but then suddenly, just as he was passing
underneath the old peach tree that stood in the middle of the ground, his foot
slipped and he felt flat on his face in the grass. The paper bag burst open as
it hit the ground and the tiny green things were scattered in all directions
and they quickly disappeared in the ground. Aunt Spiker scolded him and sent
him back to the chopping of fire wood. Today and tomorrow and the next day and
all the other day as well would be nothing but punishment and pain, unhappiness
and despair. He picked up the chopper and was just about to start chopping away
again when he heard a shout behind him that made him stop and turn.
Rumaisa Shahzad and Abdul Ahad Imran VI-A
Chapter 6
While James was busy
in chopping the woods, Aunt Spiker shouted for Aunt Sponge. She wanted to tell
Aunt Sponge that the old peach tree that never had a blossom on it, had a
beautiful peach on it. When Aunt Sponge heard about the peach she didn’t
believe it until she witnessed it herself. The peach looked ripe so Aunt Sponge
and Aunt Spiker couldn’t resist eating it. They called James and ordered him to
climb the tree and pluck the peach for them and they also warned James not to
eat a single part of it. He turned around and was surprised to see that what
his aunts had said was true. He went near and was about to climb the peach tree
according to his aunt’s order, he was stopped because ... the peach
was growing bigger and bigger! The peach was miraculously growing and during
all this James’s heart was pounding and telling him that something peculiar
,something extraordinary was about to happen. They couldn’t believe this was
happening and considered it as a miracle. The aunts were very happy.
Humayl Zafar, Sonia and Alina Saghir VI-A
Chapter 7
Suddenly, there was an absolute silence and the two aunts and James stood silently, staring at the peach. James felt very happy while seeing the peach growing and aunt Sponge started dancing with happiness.The peach grew as big as a pumpkin.Then suddenly, Aunt Spiker yelled at poor James and commanded to stay away from the peach. In few minutes, the amazing fruit became as large as Aunt Sponge, soon it was the size of a small car. Then, because of excitement, both aunts started speaking all silly words. Poor little James just stood and watched the whole thing happening and when he tried to comment, he was ordered to keep quiet by Aunt Spiker. The mighty peach now started to gain speed and grew faster than ever. At last, few minutes later, when it had become as tall and wide as the tree itself, it gently touched the ground and the speed of its growth slowed down. Now slowly, Aunt Spiker walked around the peach and stared at it. Then she touched the peach with her finger tip.When the peach stopped growing, Aunt Sponge asked Aunt Spiker that if they could now take a big chunk out of the peach to eat but Aunt Spiker did not allow this and, being repulsive and clever, she suggested that they will earn money with this peach.
Araiz Adnan VI F
Chapter 8
As James went out in the garden alone at night, he saw the white
moonlight covering the garden. He got a little scared too. James
started to feel that something very peculiar and strange would happen. He didn’t know what would happen but still
excitement began to shine in his eyes. Just as he was touching the warm, juicy and big peach, he noticed that there was a hole on the side of the peach. He was thrilled to see that so he decided to crawl inside it.
Chapter 7
Suddenly, there was an absolute silence and the two aunts and James stood silently, staring at the peach. James felt very happy while seeing the peach growing and aunt Sponge started dancing with happiness.The peach grew as big as a pumpkin.Then suddenly, Aunt Spiker yelled at poor James and commanded to stay away from the peach. In few minutes, the amazing fruit became as large as Aunt Sponge, soon it was the size of a small car. Then, because of excitement, both aunts started speaking all silly words. Poor little James just stood and watched the whole thing happening and when he tried to comment, he was ordered to keep quiet by Aunt Spiker. The mighty peach now started to gain speed and grew faster than ever. At last, few minutes later, when it had become as tall and wide as the tree itself, it gently touched the ground and the speed of its growth slowed down. Now slowly, Aunt Spiker walked around the peach and stared at it. Then she touched the peach with her finger tip.When the peach stopped growing, Aunt Sponge asked Aunt Spiker that if they could now take a big chunk out of the peach to eat but Aunt Spiker did not allow this and, being repulsive and clever, she suggested that they will earn money with this peach.
Araiz Adnan VI F
Chapter 8
As the peach was now as big as a house, the news spread like a wildfire
across the country. The next day, Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker called the carpenters to build a strong
fence around the peach and organized an exhibition. Huge crowd came to their house, scrambling up the
steep hill. The aunts also sold tickets to visitors and were able to earn a lot of money. The first day was a financial success, yet they continued to mistreat poor James who was locked up in his room. When everybody left,
Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker ordered James to go outside and pick up all the
banana skins and orange peels and bits of the paper that the crowd had left
behind. They kicked James out of the house and locked the door in the dark night.
Muzna Haider VI F
Chapter 9
As James went out in the garden alone at night, he saw the white
moonlight covering the garden. He got a little scared too. James
started to feel that something very peculiar and strange would happen. He didn’t know what would happen but still
excitement began to shine in his eyes. Just as he was touching the warm, juicy and big peach, he noticed that there was a hole on the side of the peach. He was thrilled to see that so he decided to crawl inside it.
Laiba Fouzan VI D
James was ordered by his aunts to clean all
the mess in the garden and poor James was standing alone in the moonlight
and was extremely scared. The peach was shining and glinting on it's
curved sides and the peach seemed like a crystal. There was something
mysterious about that night and James had a feeling in his gut that something
stranger than ever this time is about to happen to him soon and
it seemed like the whole garden was alive with magic and then after
sometime, James started to move closer to the peach as there was some
kind of force which was pulling him. As he came near the peach, he
started to look at the gigantic peach with his bulging eyes and touched
it gently with the tip of his finger and then, there he saw something
really very strange that there was a hole on the side of the peach.
Anabiah Arif, Eshal Khan and Sunya Siddiqui VI D
