The BFG

The BFG, by Roald Dahl, is an absurd, funny book that I think of as a Tween Humor classic. It is certainly one of the first books I recall laughing at. Dahl's other books, while filled with ludicrous characters (the various insects of James and the Giant Peach, for instance, or Willy Wonka from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) never made me laugh as a child- The BFG did.

The plot: Sophie is a young girl in an orphanage, who in the deep of night witnesses a giant coming up to the window using a big horn to blow dreams into the sleeping heads of children. Since nobody is ever supposed to see the giants, the BFG kidnaps the terrified Sophie and takes her to his cave in Giant Country. This maybe isn't such a bad thing, since BFG stands for Big Friendly Giant- apparently a misnomer, as the other giants are twice as large and a whole lot meaner. BFG is different- his co-giants eat children! The BFG just hunts for dreams and gives them to people.

Highlights of this book:

-Giants have bad grammar, and don't know how to conjugate verbs very well. They also make up words, like "scrumdiddlyumptious" and "disgusterous"

-The BFG's diet consists almost entirely of a loathsome vegetable called the Snozzcumber. Nothing else really grows in Giant Country. Luckily, the disgusting flavor of the snozzcumber is overcome by the delightfulness of Frobscottle, a drink that causes gas so strong that one becomes lighter than air, and then in order to float back to the ground, one must... to put it delicately... release gas. But Frobscottle is so good, it's worth it.

-"Human Beans"- as the giants call humans have different flavors. Children are the tastiest. The only country the giants don't like to visit is Greece, because Greeks are greasy.

Sophie and the BFG hatch a plan to alert the Queen of England of the giants and save all the children of the world from being munched by giants. Of course, this being a Roald Dahl novel, the queen takes Sophie quite seriously, and the world is saved from giants. Furthermore, everyone (except the giants who eat people) live very happily ever after.

Originally published in 1982.

Ages: 8-12

Awards: Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis (German Children's Literature Prize, 1985)

I strongly recommend this book. Furthermore, there is enough of a plot that an adult reading it to a child would enjoy it quite well.