The BFG

By Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake

Roald Dahl's beloved novel hit the big screen in July 2016 in a major motion picture adaptation directed by Steven Spielberg from Amblin Entertainment and Walt Disney Pictures.

When Sophie is snatched from her orphanage bed by the BFG (Big Friendly Giant), she fears she will be eaten. But instead the two join forces to vanquish the nine other far less gentle giants who threaten to consume earth’s children. This beautiful edition of Dahl's classic features the original illustrations by Quentin Blake.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
• Release date: Aug 16, 2007
• ISBN: 9781101662984

Roald Dahl

Roald Dahl (1916-1990) es un autor justamente famoso por su extraordinario ingenio, su destreza narrativa, su dominio del humor negro y su inagotable capacidad de sorpresa, que llevó a Hitchcock a adaptar para la televisión muchos de sus relatos. En Anagrama se han publicado la novela "Mi tío Oswald" y los libros de cuentos "El gran cambiazo" (Gran Premio del Humor Negro), "Historias extraordinarias", "Relatos de lo inesperado" y "Dos fábulas". En otra faceta, Roald Dahl goza de una extraordinaria popularidad como autor de libros para niños.

Book preview

Cover for The BFG, Author, Roald Dahl; Illustrated by Quentin Blake

Captured by a giant!

The BFG is no ordinary bone-crunching giant. He is far too nice and jumbly. It’s lucky for Sophie that he is. Had she been carried off in the middle of the night by the Bloodbottler, or any of the other giants—rather than the BFG—she would have soon become breakfast. When Sophie hears that the giants are flush-bunking off to England to swollomp a few nice little chiddlers, she decides she must stop them once and for all. And the BFG is going to help her!

Books by Roald Dahl

The BFG

Billy and the Minpins

Boy: Tales of Childhood

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator

Danny the Champion of the World

Dirty Beasts

The Enormous Crocodile

Esio Trot

Fantastic Mr. Fox

George’s Marvelous Medicine

The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me

Going Solo

James and the Giant Peach

The Magic Finger

Matilda

The Missing Golden Ticket and Other Splendiferous Secrets

Revolting Rhymes

The Twits

The Vicar of Nibbleswicke

The Witches

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More

Book Title, The BFG, Author, Roald Dahl; Illustrated by Quentin Blake, Imprint, Viking Books for Young Readers

For Olivia

20 April 1955–17 November 1962

VIKING

An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, New York

Publisher logo

First published in Great Britain by Jonathan Cape Ltd., 1982

First published in the United States of America by Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1982

Published by Puffin Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, 1984

Reissued by Puffin Books, 2007, 2013

This edition published by Viking, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, 2023

Reprinted by arrangement with Farrar, Straus & Giroux, LLC

Text copyright © 1982 by Roald Dahl

Illustrations copyright © 1982 by Quentin Blake

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory excerpt text copyright © 1964 by Roald Dahl

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory excerpt illustrations copyright © 1995 by Quentin Blake

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THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS HAS CATALOGED THE PUFFIN BOOKS EDITION UNDER CATALOG CARD NUMBER: 85-566

Ebook ISBN 9781101662984

Design by Lindsey Andrews, adapted for ebook

This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

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Contents

List of Characters

The Witching Hour

Who?

The Snatch

The Cave

The BFG

The Giants

The Marvellous Ears

Snozzcumbers

The Bloodbottler

Frobscottle and Whizzpoppers

Journey to Dream Country

Dream-Catching

A Trogglehumper for the Fleshlumpeater

Dreams

The Great Plan

Mixing the Dream

Journey to London

The Palace

The Queen

The Royal Breakfast

The Plan

Capture!

Feeding Time

The Author

Excerpt from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

_150124842_

The characters in this book are:

HUMANS:

THE QUEEN OF ENGLAND

MARY, the Queen’s maid

MR TIBBS, the Palace butler

THE HEAD OF THE ARMY

THE HEAD OF THE AIR FORCE

And, of course, SOPHIE, an orphan

GIANTS:

THE FLESHLUMPEATER

THE BONECRUNCHER

THE MANHUGGER

THE CHILDCHEWER

THE MEATDRIPPER

THE GIZZARDGULPER

THE MAID MASHER

THE BLOODBOTTLER

THE BUTCHER BOY

And, of course, THE BFG

The Witching Hour

Sophie couldn’t sleep.

A brilliant moonbeam was slanting through a gap in the curtains. It was shining right on to her pillow.

The other children in the dormitory had been asleep for hours.

Sophie closed her eyes and lay quite still. She tried very hard to doze off.

It was no good. The moonbeam was like a silver blade slicing through the room on to her face.

The house was absolutely silent. No voices came up from downstairs. There were no footsteps on the floor above either.

The window behind the curtain was wide open, but nobody was walking on the pavement outside. No cars went by on the street. Not the tiniest sound could be heard anywhere. Sophie had never known such a silence.

Perhaps, she told herself, this was what they called the witching hour.

The witching hour, somebody had once whispered to her, was a special moment in the middle of the night when every child and every grown-up was in a deep deep sleep, and all the dark things came out from hiding and had the world to themselves.

*   *   *

The moonbeam was brighter than ever on Sophie’s pillow. She decided to get out of bed and close the gap in the curtains.

You got punished if you were caught out of bed after lights-out. Even if you said you had to go to the lavatory, that was not accepted as an excuse and they punished you just the same. But there was no one about now, Sophie was sure of that.

She reached out for her glasses that lay on the chair beside her bed. They had steel rims and very thick lenses, and she could hardly see a thing without them. She put them on, then she slipped out of bed and tip-toed over to the window.

*   *   *

When she reached the curtains, Sophie hesitated. She longed to duck underneath them and lean out of the window to see what the world looked like now that the witching hour was at hand.

She listened again. Everywhere it was deathly still.

The longing to look out became so strong she couldn’t resist it. Quickly, she ducked under the curtains and leaned out of the window.

In the silvery moonlight, the village street she knew so well seemed completely different. The houses looked bent and crooked, like houses in a fairy tale. Everything was pale and ghostly and milky-white.

Across the road, she could see Mrs Rance’s shop, where you bought buttons and wool and bits of elastic. It didn’t look real. There was something dim and misty about that too.

Sophie allowed her eye to travel further and further down the street.

Suddenly she froze. There was something coming up the street on the opposite side.

It was something black . . .

Something tall and black . . .

Something very tall and very black and very thin.

Who?

It wasn’t a human. It couldn’t be. It was four times as tall as the tallest human. It was so tall its head was higher than the upstairs windows of the houses. Sophie opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out. Her throat, like her whole body, was frozen with fright.

This was the witching hour all right.

The tall black figure was coming her way. It was keeping very close to the houses across the street, hiding in the shadowy places where there was no moonlight.

On and on it came, nearer and nearer. But it was moving in spurts. It would stop, then it would move on, then it would stop again.

But what on earth was it doing?

Ah-ha! Sophie could see now what it was up to. It was stopping in front of each house. It would stop and peer into the upstairs window of each house in the street. It actually had to bend down to peer into the upstairs windows. That’s how tall it was.

It would stop and peer in. Then it would slide on to the next house and stop again, and peer in, and so on all along the street.

It was much closer now and Sophie could see it more clearly.

Looking at it carefully, she decided it had to be some kind of PERSON. Obviously it was not a human. But it was definitely a PERSON.

A GIANT PERSON, perhaps.

Sophie stared hard across the misty moonlit street. The Giant (if that was what he was) was wearing a long BLACK CLOAK.

In one hand he was holding what looked like a VERY LONG, THIN TRUMPET.

In the other hand, he held a LARGE SUITCASE.

The Giant had stopped now right in front of Mr and Mrs Goochey’s house. The Goocheys had a greengrocer’s shop in the middle of the High Street, and the family lived above the shop. The two Goochey children slept in the upstairs front room, Sophie knew that.

The Giant was peering through the window into the room where Michael and Jane Goochey were sleeping. From across the street, Sophie watched and held her breath.

*   *   *

She saw the Giant step back a pace and put the suitcase down on the pavement. He bent over and opened the suitcase. He took something out of it. It looked like a glass jar, one of those square ones with a screw top. He unscrewed the top of the jar and poured what was in it into the end of the long trumpet thing.

Sophie watched, trembling.

She saw the Giant straighten up again and she saw him poke the trumpet in through the open upstairs window of the room where the Goochey children were sleeping. She saw the Giant take a deep breath and whoof, he blew through the trumpet.

No noise came out, but it was obvious to Sophie that whatever had been in the jar had now been blown through the trumpet into the Goochey children’s bedroom.

What could it be?

*   *   *

As the Giant withdrew the trumpet from the window and bent down to pick up the suitcase he happened to turn his head and glance across the street.

In the moonlight, Sophie caught a glimpse of an enormous long pale wrinkly face with the most enormous ears. The nose was as sharp as a knife, and above the nose there were two bright flashing eyes, and the eyes were staring straight at Sophie. There was a fierce and devilish look about them.

Sophie gave a yelp and pulled back from the window. She flew across the dormitory and jumped into her bed and hid under the blanket.

And there she crouched, still as a mouse, and tingling all over.

The Snatch

Under the blanket, Sophie waited.

After a minute or so, she lifted a corner of the blanket and peeped out.

For the second time that night her blood froze to ice and she wanted to scream, but no sound came out. There at the window, with the curtains pushed aside, was the enormous long pale wrinkly face of the Giant Person, staring in. The flashing black eyes were fixed on Sophie’s bed.

The next moment, a huge hand with pale fingers came snaking in through the window. This was followed by an arm, an arm as thick as a tree-trunk, and the arm, the hand, the fingers were reaching out across the room towards Sophie’s bed.

This time Sophie really did scream, but only for a second because very quickly the huge hand clamped down over her blanket and the scream was smothered by the bedclothes.

Sophie, crouching underneath the blanket, felt strong fingers grasping hold of her, and then she was lifted up from her bed, blanket and all, and whisked out of the window.

*   *   *

If you can think of anything more terrifying than that happening to you in the middle of the night, then let’s hear about it.

The awful thing was that Sophie knew exactly what was going on although she couldn’t see it happening. She knew that a Monster (or Giant) with an enormous long pale wrinkly face and dangerous eyes had plucked her from her bed in the middle of the witching hour and was now carrying her out through the window smothered in a blanket.

What actually happened next was this. When the Giant had got Sophie outside, he arranged the blanket so that he could

Reviews for The BFG

[villemezbrown · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Another classic children's book I missed reading because I was too busy devouring comic books. I have to say, though, picking comics over this was a good call.

An orphan girl is kidnapped by a giant and discovers he's the runt in a pack of even larger and much more murderous giants.

Except for a few scenes with the queen of England, I was bored by the story and annoyed with the giant's quirky speech patterns.

[booklistener · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It took me a while to get around to reading this book and found it delightful.

[kslade-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Fun book. Just saw the movie and had to read this. Movie is mostly faithful.

[oldandnewbooksmell · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Sophie is an orphan who gets taken away one night by the Big Friendly Giant, aka BFG, to Giant Country after seeing him through her window. There, BFG tells Sophie all about the other giants who go off at night and eat humans (the BFG doesn't eat humans). After finding out they're planning on going back to her home country to eat a bunch of school children, Sophie finally convinces the BFG that enough is enough!

I wish I would have read this book as a kid! I was giggling to myself at the names and words BFG would use. I know if I read this when I was younger I would have cracked up and rolled around in a fit! This is a funny, fast read. I can see everyone at least smiling at some of the words being said. It's just a bit silly to be honest.

[Jonnnny · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The author always gives me a feeling that everything is right in the world, although yes, his stories are not the deepest in the world, they are completely necessary, a breath of fresh air from overwhelming and sad readings (don’t get me wrong, I also enjoy those readings hehe).

The only little issues I have with the author is that when I read books with stories I already know, I get bored, but this story was new to me, I loved it.

I hope that at night, when I look out the window, I find a good giant friend and not a thief hahaha. (Translated from Spanish)

[ReySalomn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Without a doubt, Roald Dahl was a wonderful storyteller with incredible creativity. I haven't had the opportunity to read all of his stories, but I hope to achieve that someday. (Translated from Spanish)

[abigailadams26 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A young orphan named Sophie, awake at the witching hour one night and looking out of the window of the orphanage where she lives, is seen by a passing giant, who scoops her up through the window and brings her back to his cave. Unlike the other eight giants in existence, who are truly terrible, the BFG - Big Friendly Giant - does not eat people. Rather, he captures dreams and doles them out to good children, while they are sleeping. Nightmares, he destroys. It is Sophie who suggests that the other giants, who abuse the BFG, should be imprisoned, and the two unlikely companions make their way to London, where they enlist the aid of the Queen...

Originally published in 1982, The BFG was apparently dedicated to author Roald Dahl's daughter, Olivia, who died at the age of seven in 1962, of measles encephalitis. This is terribly poignant, and made me wonder what aspects of the story (if any) - perhaps the character of Sophie? the dream-catching? the giants? - made Dahl dedicate this to his long-dead daughter. Leaving that issue aside, I found this one quite enjoyable, when I read it for the course on the history of children's literature that I took, while getting my masters. Other than Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which I read as a young girl, I had never read any other books by Dahl, when I picked The BFG up. I was pleasantly surprised, as I'd found the humor in 'Charlie' sufficiently nasty, as a younger reader, that I'd never approached the author's work again. Here however, I thought the tone was gentler, more compassionate, less mocking. I appreciated the conversations between Sophie and the BFG, in which "this extraordinary giant was disturbing her ideas... leading her toward mysteries that were beyond her understanding."

I won't go so far as to say I loved this one, or that it completely changed my view of Dahl, who has always seemed to me to have a rather nasty undertone to his books, but it was enjoyable, and gave me pause. The more rational adult reader in me (as opposed to the determinedly opinionated child) is constrained to admit that one or two books is an insufficient sample, to make any firm judgment on the author's work. I've long wanted to read Dahl's Fantastic Mr. Fox, perhaps I'll try that next?

[addunn3 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The Big Friendly Giant works with a little girl to save children from being eaten!

[steller0707 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I cannot be right all the time. Quite often I is left instead of right - The BFG

I read this on the recommendation from my grandson, and my daughter, his mother, that I should really get to know Roald Dahl. I've never read his books. And I've only seen clips from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. So they lent me this book to get started!

I really liked this silly romp through giant-land, with all its wonderful vocabulary words - gobblefunk (nonsense), the telly bunkum (television), swizzfiggling (make things up) and, of course, disgusterous. Suspend your disbelief at flying giants, dreams in jars and breakfast with the queen, and enjoy the story.

[robinsonstef · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Sophie is captured late one night, as can happen when one can’t fall asleep. Luckily for her, the giant who took her is not like the rest of his kind, for he is kind and gentle (a little on the short side too, at nearly 24 feet). He doesn’t want to eat Sophie and doesn’t dine on children (or any “human beans”). The BFG, as he comes to be known, eats veggies and a fizzy drink which cause him to “whizzpop”. Although he is a giant, he has a heart of gold and enjoys giving kids pleasant dreams, which he stores and blows into their rooms while they are dozing. Sophie and the BFG become fast friends. When Sophie finds out that the other giants have a plan to devour lots of other children, she begs the BFG to help her save them. She has a plan, but it won’t work if she tries it alone. Will Sophie and the BFG be able to save the unsuspecting humans? Will the other giants find out what they are up to? Is it really possible for a giant and a human child to be friends? You will have to read this book to find out!

I have read most of Roald Dahl’s books, and I enjoyed The BFG. The main characters are easy to relate to for different reasons. I appreciated the BFG's sensitivity and Sophie’s determination. I loved all of the fun made up words throughout the book. There are lots of quirky details, which I have come to expect from this author. I found myself laughing out loud as I pictured some of the scenes. I think this book would appeal to kids in third grade and up (younger kids would enjoy having it read to them). The BFG has a way of talking that can take some getting used to, but once you get the hang of it- his personality pops off the pages. I liked the themes in this book about good and evil, and that friendships can happen where we least expect them. This was another reminder that we shouldn’t judge books or people by their covers and that we should laugh often!

[Daphy · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I didn't like it at all; it was boring and full of situations that aimed to be funny but weren't. As for the rating of boring, I have to say it's because everything was very simple. I know someone might say it's a children's book, but that doesn't excuse it. One must strive to give depth to a story regardless of who it's aimed at. (Translated from Spanish)

[mackenzietimbs · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is an all time favorite read for me! In Dahl's book readers get to experience adventure along with Sophie and the BFG through descriptive, engaging writing whether it's placing dreams into the Queen of England's head or imagining the awful stench of Snozzcumbers. The BFG character is incredibly well developed and Dahl does a great job at humanizing him. This is a great read for people of all ages, and would be great for entertaining school- age children! (Grades 2-3) The main themes of the book include friendship, justice and teamwork- even when your team is an unexpected pair.

[brannonsg · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

While main characters engage in delightful conversation, learning about each other and their differences, the BFG contains some disturbing content for the youngest readers. (Spoiler Alert if you read on).

From the book jacket you learn that Sophie (the main human character) is very fortunate to have met this particular giant (the Big Friendly Giant), because all the other giants feed on humans, especially children. The bulk of the book is an adventure where Sophie, who was captured by the BFG, must avoid detection by the other giants. But soon Sophie and the BFG embark on a quest to end the practice of "human bean" feasts.

The book is a quick read, and the twists on language are quite amusing. But, be prepared to deal with the uncomfortable fact of the giants diet if you read this classic to youngsters.

[justagirlwithabook · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

 I LOVED this little book! Roald Dahl is my new children's author hero. I listened to this book on audio and absolutely loved it. The narrator did a great job of making the characters come to life with all their voices. It was such a fun story and I really fell in love with it and the characters. Though definitely a children's book, I think any adult who loves the whimsical world of children's fantasy will appreciate this one.

[karenvg3 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was a cute book. Some very valuable lessons throughout. I'm very excited to see the movie.

[reneepaule · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Lovely clever little book.

[sweetiegherkin · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Eight-year-old Sophie is looking out the orphanage window during the 'witching hour' and espies a giant, who plucks her up and takes her back with him to 'giant country,' where he explains he is a Big Friendly Giant, but the other giants would eat her up if given the chance. When Sophie learns that the other giants are going out every night and gobbling up humans left and right, she is determined that she and the BFG must stop them. With a bit of help from the Queen of England, they might be able to end this gigantic reign of terror.

I must confess that as a child, I never read any Roald Dahl books, which is a shame because I think I would have appreciated them so much back then. When The BFG film came out, a friend and I were hysterical over the main character's misspeaks and the situational humor in it, so I decided I should read the book at last. There are significant differences, but both the movie and the book are entertaining in their own right. The BFG himself is a very funny character as well as an endearing one, in spite of his early mistake in kidnapping Sophie.

Despite an overall humorous tone, Dahl does tackle a couple of deep issues in the book as the BFG and Sophie talk about the other giants. She is indignant about their behavior in eating humans, but the BFG points out how humans eat other animals and how humans often murder one another, whereas the giants are just aiming for survival. Ultimately, this is just a small part of the book, but I like how it provides some food for thought.

There are a few problematic mentions in the books of non-British nationalities/ethnicities (e.g., a couple of references to "Eskimos" and "Hottentots") as well as a couple of unnecessary gendered divides (e.g., the BFG organizes his dream collection into "girl dreams" and "boy dreams"). However, considering that the book was written by a person born in 1916, I can mostly overlook these. Parents or teachers might want to make note though and talk to their children about these issues and how these attitudes are regressive.

David Williams is a talented and apt narrator for the audiobook, doing a great job of the BFG's garbled speak as well as creating a variety of distinct voices for all the characters that appear, even minor ones. This particular version features "special sound effects," which were a bit distracting, especially if you listen to this book while driving! I could see how the special effects were meant to be engaging for young listeners, and there were times they were spot on, such as including the whooshing sounds of the blades when the text described the helicopters in flight. However, there were other times when the sound effects didn't add much or frankly didn't make sense. For example, an early mention of a noise that was 'as loud as thunder' was followed by a thunder clap. But there wasn't actually thunder, just a thunderous sound!

Overall, this is an imaginative and amusing read that children who like fantasy and/or magical realism will greatly enjoy.

[lissabeth21 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Wonderful, fanciful story. Though I did most of the reading given the BFG's confusing speech.

[marsap_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It is the "witching hour" and Sophie, a young orphan, can't sleep. She spots a very large creature leaning into neighbor kids' windows with something that looks like a huge trumpet. The giant sees her and takes her to his home in Giant Country. The BFG (the Big Friendly Giant) is no ordinary bone-crunching, “human beans” eating giant. He secretly collects good dreams and uses a blowpipe to blow them into kids’ room. He either destroys nightmares or uses them to start fights between the giants who eat “human beans." Sophie convinces the BFG to talk to the Queen of England to capture the human-eating giants—and so the adventure begins. This is a wonderful, silly, inventive (particularly the language of the BFG) book for the young reader or for a family read. I listened to the audio version of this book and it was quite good— a great one for a family car trip. 41/2 out of 5 stars.

[shelbel100 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One night, Sophie accidentally sees the BFG (Big Friendly Giant). He kidnaps her from the orphanage where she lives and whisks her off to faraway giant land. BFG has to hide Sophie from the other giants, they eat human “beans” and would surely eat her if they found her. The two become great friends and he tells her of his work capturing dreams and delivering the good ones to children around the world.

One day when the giants leave to go hunting human beans, Sophie and BFG devise a plan to capture the other giants and take them somewhere they will never be able to eat humans again.

I saw the movie before reading the book this time and enjoyed it very much. In the movie, there is a scene where BFGs dreams get destroyed by the other giants and I am glad to say this is not in the book.

[phoibee-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I think I forgot what happily ever after feels like. I enjoyed reading this book in one sitting. I love Roald Dahl. I wish I read this when I was little.

[benuathanasia · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Largely "Meh." Like most of Dahl's work, it was a good idea poorly executed in my opinion.

[tonifgmamtc · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Cute enough, but not a favorite for me
I love how much my daughter loved it though. :)

[stef7sa-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Funny story, espescially when read out loud I think with all the ridiculous words the BFG is using. I am curious now about how translators managed so I'll have a look at the Dutch version for fun.

[nicholepeterse · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a cute story of two unlikely friends, a giant and an orphan. The book starts with Sophie in an orphanage and being taken in the middle of the night by the BFG. The go back to Giants land where no human is allowed to go or they will be eaten. The BFG hides her in his house and takes care of Sophie. The problem is the other Giants get the sence there is a human near by and go on a man hunt. I would use this story as a read aloud in class to introduce chapter books, and use picture to text reading strategies.

[michellehewitt · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I tried to read this book to the children, some were, bored others were scared, some had already read it. It is the first book I didn't finish reading.

[jwurtel · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The BFG by Roald Dahl tells the story of an unlikely friendship between a little orphan, Sophie, and her uneducated abductor, the BFG. The central message of this book is one of friendship and courage: With a good friend, good ideas, and a healthy dose of courage, anything is possible.

Throughout the book, Sophie learns to love and trust the Big Friendly Giant, and he loves her fiercely in return. The development of each character individually and as a team is the most powerful literary element of this book. The reader will feel empathetic for the BFG as he has been bullied his whole life by the other giants in the story who happen to be fearsome man-eating giants. When the two are not hiding from the horrid giants, they have moments of hilarity when they drink frobscottle which causes them to pass gas with such force, they fly through the sky like a balloon. Moments like these and other adventures though the book, seal their fate as friends forever.

Together, they are able to use their friendship and trust in each other to defeat the man-eating giants and save the day.

Note: This story does have elements of violence which will need to be discussed. Also, the giant speaks in a phonetic manner often making mistakes with his grammar and spelling which can be fun, but it can add difficulty.

[jenspirko · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Typical Roald Dahl -- just sweet enough but infused with salty wit and just enough preposterous humor to make the dark undercurrents all the better as leavening for what is, really, a charming and whimsical story. Mostly. Well worth the very quick read, even for cynical adults who may think that a book that features fart jokes in the presence of the Queen of England beneath them. If you think so, you are missing out on the good fun of _The BFG_!

[rata_4 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A beautiful, magical read for children. I read this to my class when I was teaching and we did lots of activities around this warming story. I have just bought the movie tie in book to read to my grand-daughter and we will go to see it on the big screen. This is a warming story of a little orphan girl (Sophie) who witnesses the BFG blowing dreams into children’s' bedroom windows in the witching hour.
The BFG snitches Sophie and takes her back to his cavern in a desolated desert that exists at the edge of the world in the two blank pages of the atlas. The BFG introduces himself as “I is a nice big jumbly giant.” The vocabulary is endearing and as you are reading the dialogue throughout the book you cannot help but feel like you are there alongside Sophie & the BFG.
The story proceeds with Sophie & the BFG saving the children of the world from being gobbled up by 9 mean hungry giants who also live in this desert. Each night the 9 giants go off to parts of the world to gobble, guzzle chillin’s (children). Sophie & The BFG enlists the help of her majesty the Queen by bewitching her with a dream. A must read for every child – so magical, creative for the mind.

[mindea_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very cute story. Can't wait for the movie to see it come to life.

Sophie is an orphan and one night she notices a large shadow moving around and looking into windows. All of a sudden that shadow looks right at her and snatches her from her window. This is a story about Sophie and her Big Friendly Giant.