The BFG

The BFG is one of Dahl's most lovable character creations. Whether galloping off with Sophie nestled into the soft skin of his ear to capture dreams as though they were exotic butterflies; speaking his delightful, jumbled, squib-fangled patois; or whizzpopping for the Queen, he leaves an indelible impression of bigheartedness. (Ages 9 to 12)

Product Description
Luckily for Sophie, the BFG is nothing like his neighbors, whose favorite pastime is guzzling little children.

In the hands of a less capable author than Dahl, this plotline would soon fizzle and become ho-hum humdrum. Say what you will, Dahl is a very, VERY capable author and this book is simply fabulous. While most giants are the people eating kind (with colorful names like Childchewer, Bloodbottler and Fleshlumpeater), Sophie is lucky to have been captured by the BFG-- Big Friendly Giant! He's no guzzler of people (known in Giantspeak as "human beans"-- giants don't go to school and their grammer is somewhat lacking) but is rather a gentle soul who has a special trade to ply in the human world. There's only two small problems: the BFG lives in the land of giants where the other louts would only be too glad to guzzle her right up, and there's no food other than a strange, disgusting vegetable called a snozzcumber (it tastes like frog skins and dead fish). So, while Sophie's happy not to have been eaten up, she's none to happy to find that there's always that threat of being discovered and noting for HER to eat. Besides, the other giants (much bigger than the BFG) are constantly running to other countries to guzzle human beans by the cartload (Chille beans are especially yummy, we're told...). Something MUST be done... but what? Maybe she should go tell the queen...

I came to Dahl's work late in life (that is, recently, not in childhood) and have slowly been making my way through his works. So far, "The BFG" ranks as his best work. It is continuously engaging, very funny, and keeps the reader engaged from page 1 all the way through to the end. Young or intermediate readers may have difficulty with some of the phonetically spellings and Dahl-inspired words like "snozzcumber", "whizzpopping" and the generally gobbled-up grammar of the giants' speech. Still, it is a fantastic, fast-paced story that will be enjoyed for years to come by young and old. Highly recommended.


The BFG's the book you've been looking forward to !!!!!!   March 26, 2002
13 out of 14 found this review helpful

This is an extraordinary book, and the reader is immediately drawn into the fascinating tale. It begins like this.........

Sophie is an orphan... One night, the moon was pouring in all it's brightness through her windows, casting light directly on her pillow....., unable to sleep, then, Sophie looks out of the window and.....that's when she finds herself caught by a giant called the BFG (the big Friendly Giant), but a giant so friendly and kind, that when other giants go searching for edible humans every night, he eats horrible cucumber kind of vegetables. Soon after Sophie and the BFG gets to be friends and goes to meet Queen Elizabeth for help. In the end, Sophie gets to live in a big palace with the BFG. I couldn't put this book down, so I read it in one day! It's terribly funny and interesting. It's the kind of book everyone will love reading.


BFG = Book oF Greatness   July 5, 1997
7 out of 7 found this review helpful

I loved the book The BFG,
I chose it over cable T.V.
The words in the story just tickled me pink,
After a while it made me think,
I'm glad Roald Dahl wrote this story,
If you read it, you won't be sorry.
Action-packed, and full of laughter,
I was splitting my sides just right after.
Page after page, I was stuck in the book,
And if you ask me its better than it looks.
I'm happy I found The Big Friendly Giant,
To read it again, I wouldn't mind it!

By Lori Schneider
Grade 5



The best   July 24, 2000
C. Buechner (Texas)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

The BFG is probably the best children's book I have ever read. I read this book when I was in elementary school and it is still one of my favorites. (I'm 21) Roald Dahl is one of the most creative authors I have ever had the pleasure of reading. He has the outlandish imagination of a child which allows him to really connect with the children he is writing for. There are very few books that I like to read more than once, but this one I have read at least fifty times.


The great, the amazing, the funny BFG!   November 10, 2001
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

Pretend you are an orphan looking out your bedroom window in the middle of the night. You can't sleep. Suddenly you see a dark shadow moving towards you. It is huge! Then it grabs you! This is what happened to Sophie.

Sophie was just a normal orphan in a normal orphanage. But all that changed one night. Sophie couldn't sleep so she got up to look out the window. She looked down the street. There was a HUGE thing approaching. It turned and looked at Sophie! Then suddenly it reached its humongous hand and grabbed Sophie! He took her away to his cave.

You would think the giant would eat Sophie right? Wrong. Actually he is the nicest giant in Giant Country. He is the BFG (Big Friendly Giant.) But spoiling their fun are the human bean guzzlers: The Fleshlumpeater, the Childchewer and many more. They are horrible man-eating giants. They just must be stopped. So Sophie comes up with a plan. But will it work? Read the
book to find out.

I think The BFG is an hilarious book. Why is it so funny you ask? Well, the BFG has never been to school. So he doesn't speak properly. Some of his words are: Jumbly, phizzwizard, trogglehumper, snozzcumbers, frobscottle and many more. The BFG has a good plot with some twists and turns. My favorite chapter is Frobscottle and Whizzpoppers. It is really funny. Why? Well guess what a Whizzpopper is. (Hint: it is very rude and gassy.) Want I didn't like about this book is... well actually I loved all of it! It's just so hilariously funny, amazingly interesting and suspenseful. My favorite character is... the great, the amazing, the funny BFG!! I could read this book over and
over and over again!!!