Which Roald Dahl book introduced the giant peach as its central magical object?

James and the Giant Peach introduced the giant peach as its central magical object.

Roald Dahl’s James and the Giant Peach was first published in 1961. It follows James Henry Trotter, an orphan who lives unhappily with his two cruel aunts. After a magical incident, an ordinary peach grows to enormous size, creating a fantastical vehicle for James and a group of enlarged insects.

The story combines adventure, humor, danger, and escape. The peach becomes both a setting and a mode of travel, carrying James and his companions away from England and into a series of extraordinary encounters. The insects are named characters, including the Centipede, the Spider, and the Ladybird.

The title is sometimes remembered as James and the Giant Peach in North America and James and the Giant Peach in most modern references; the wording is stable in English-language editions. It should not be confused with Dahl’s later magical stories about medicine or telekinetic children.