The BFG

About the book

Sophie, an orphan living in London, is snatched from her bed late at night by a twenty-four-foot giant. Unlike his neighbors in Giant Country—horrific creatures like the Fleshlumpeater and the Bonepucker who travel the globe to eat "human beans"—her captor is the Big Friendly Giant. He is a vegetarian who subsists on foul-tasting snozzcumbers and spends his nights blowing bottled dreams into the bedrooms of sleeping children. Using his oversized ears to hear the whispers of the world, the BFG teaches Sophie his invented language, Gobblefunk. Together, they hatch a plan to alert the Queen of England to the existence of the man-eating giants and orchestrate a military operation to capture them.

Middle-grade readers choose this story for its playful approach to linguistics and its subversion of traditional monster tropes. Children find humor in the BFG’s jumbled vocabulary and the physical comedy of "whizzpoppers." The book provides a clear framework for how courage and cleverness can overcome physical intimidation. Readers walk away with a sense of justice as the villains are neutralized, alongside an appreciation for friendship between those from vastly different backgrounds and scales.

Details

Published

1980

Language

EN