ABSTRACT

The movie James and the Giant Peach (Selick, Burton, & DiNovi, 1996) opens with James and his parents relaxing at the shoreline. Lying on their backs, they look at the sky and begin to see patterns in the clouds. With a little effort, James begins to see various shapes, including a camel, a train, and a rotated version of the world’s tallest building (at that time, the Empire State Building). James is delighted because he has found a new joy in something as simple as looking at clouds. He has realized that he can use information about familiar shapes to reinterpret other, more amorphous forms such as the shapes of clouds.