James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

This was one of my read-alouds with the boys (mostly Dane), and it was so fantastic. Some of the books that we've read aloud together have been more interesting for Dane than for me, like Paddington. I liked that book, but I didn't love it (maybe because I never read it as a kid?), and I think that made a difference in my desire to read together because it felt more like we were doing a chore or something. (Although I made the mistake of grabbing another Paddington book from the library when I saw them on the shelf and now Dane wants to read that one next... darn.) But this book... I could not wait to read this one. And neither could Dane. As soon as we got to the magic part, Dane was so, so, very excited. We read about six or seven chapters each day we read, and the book is relatively short, so we finished it in only a few weeks. I love the story and I love the weirdness of it all. Dane is determined to make a potion now that will work like the magic things in the beginning of the book.