Book Review | The BFG
5:00 AM
synopsis.
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, the Fleshlumpeater, the Bonecruncher, or any of the other giants-rather than the BFG-she would have soon become breakfast.
When Sophie hears that they are flush-bunking off in 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!
my thoughts.
This has been the year that I have been reading Roald Dahl books. Previously, I think I’ve only read George’s Marvellous Medicine and maybe The Witches. However, my Foundation class has been enjoying reading Roald Dahl, so The BFG made the top of their list of books to read.
As someone who knew only that The BFG stood for ‘The Big Friendly Giant’ I was pleasantly surprised by the story. It is sweet, funny and a great reminder for children to stand up for what you believe in (as per Sophie’s insistence on making a difference in the story). I love the way Dahl plays with language - while The BFG often reminds Sophie that he’s never been to school and so he mixes his words up, there’s a lot of humour there for adult readers, who may be sharing it with younger readers.
My students really identified with Sophie - the identified with her wonder at this strange world she finds herself in, her love for the strange, gentle Big Friendly Giant and their horror at the existence of the horrible giants who run off each night to eat humans every night. They begged for just one more page, or just one more chapter to find out what happened next (even those who had already read the book or seen the movie).
Ultimately I rated The BFG 4.5 out of 5 stars. A great joint reading experience for the kids and for myself.
title // The BFG
author // Roald Dahl
publisher // Puffin Books
genre // Children’s Books
publication date // 1982 (First published)
format // Paperback
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