The book I read was James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl. James Henry Trotter, and 4 year old boy, was orphaned and had to live with his horrible aunt Sponge and Spiker. After 3 years of torture, James met an old man who gives him a magical potion and consumption of which would "Give James wealth happiness and great adventure". However, James accidently dropped the sack and it burst into magical green crystals that vanished into the soil. However, the old peach tree near their house suddenly beared a giant peach. Sponge and Spiker thought they could make a profit out of this, and thus decided to charge people for viewing the peach. One night, James went into the giant peach and saw colossal insects: the Centipede, Miss Spider, the Old-Green-Grasshopper, the Silkworm, the Earthworm, Mrs. Ladybird and the Glowworm. The peach itself broke off from the tree and squashed the aunts, as it sails across the Atlantic to New York. They had nice adventures on the way there.
I like James because he is brave and he told us that nothing is impossible, even at such a low point in life you can still bounce up.