The BFG Review
On the face of it, "The BFG" seems just plain wrong as a children's book. Its story revolves around giants who steal children out of their beds in the night and eat them. Oh, that's just PERFECT for a bedtime story!
And as a parent, do you really want a book in which the title character delights in flatulence?
Indeed, the scary parts of the story may have led to my 7-year-old son having some nightmares. But both he and sister still loved the book! And as for the flatulence - "whizzpopping," in the giant's parlance -- of course, my kids thought that was FUNNY!
"The BFG" is the story of a Big Friendly Giant ("The BFG") and a little girl named Sophie. The BFG introduces Sophie to the strange world of giants, and together they set out to stop the nine child-eating giants.
The book has a little too much talk - and too little action - in the first half. But still there's something charming about the relationship between the BFG and Sophie. And, as a read-aloud book, it was delightful to read the giant's peculiar vocabulary. Human beings are "human beans," dreams are "bogthumpers," "grobswitchers" or "trogglehumpers," and he eats snozzcumbers while drinking frobscottle. (Run that sentence through your spell checker!)
The giant and Sophie are very likable main characters and the story takes some wondrous turns. They go to the land of dreams, for instance, and capture dreams and nightmares to put in jars. There's plenty of silliness, and then an exciting rush to a conclusion that kept us all going.
"The BFG" is the fourth Roald Dahl book I've read to my kids. Each one leaves me shaking my head - sometimes in wonderment, sometimes in puzzlement. But they've never failed to surprise!
The BFG Overview
Luckily for Sophie, the BFG is nothing like his neighbors, whose favorite pastime is guzzling little children.
The BFG Specifications
Evidently not even Roald Dahl could resist the acronym craze of the early eighties. BFG? Bellowing ferret-faced golfer? Backstabbing fairy godmother? Oh, oh ... Big Friendly Giant! This BFG doesn't seem all that F at first as he creeps down a London street, snatches little Sophie out of her bed, and bounds away with her to giant land. And he's not really all that B when compared with his evil, carnivorous brethren, who bully him for being such an oddball runt. After all, he eats only disgusting snozzcumbers, and while the other Gs are snacking on little boys and girls, he's blowing happy dreams in through their windows. What kind of way is that for a G to behave?
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)
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Customer Reviews
Gotta love the BFG - knowmaam -
We first read the BFG 15 years ago when my oldest was small. We lost the original copy in a flood years ago. We just replaced it and reread it. It's like watching Monty Python; once you read it you never talk quite the same way again. The Big Friendly Giant does good and always puts the needs of others first. Uncommon virtues today. So watch for whizzpoppers and enjoy.
It's A Pretty Good Book - -
This review is written by my daughter:
It's a good book. I don't know Daddy, you write it. That wasn't part of the review! I'm serious Dad! Please! Just write it for me! I don't want to write this review. I don't know what to write. To everybody who is reading this review, my dad is typing it, and I want him to stop. Stop for serious, Dad. You can write it Dad. I want you to delete this review and you can start it again. I want you to delete what you just wrote because I want you to write it. Dad, I have a paper airplane with an edge and I'm going to poke your eye out if you don't delete this. With a sharp edge. With a pointy edge. Okay, Dad, I'm going to do it.
Good story but plot holes much? - Molly Moon - New Zealand
Number one: I read this when I was six, so forgive me if I get some things wrong.
Okay, so the main character is an orphan called Sophie. She can't sleep one night, so she happens to look out the window. She happens to see a giant. He happens to turn around and see her. As a result, she knows too much. She's in bed, and next thing she knows, the giant has abducted her. Lucky for her she was taken by a nice giant, who is known as "Big Friendly Giant" or BFG for short. Unlucky for her she now has to live in Giant Country, and is constantly in danger of a human-eating giant finding her.
Here we come to plot holes. First, I noticed that the BFG mentions being hungry just before Sophie finds out the truth about him. This doesn't make any sense, considering the next happenings. Second, the reason he took Sophie was to make sure she didn't tell anyone, yet at the end, the pair are living happily in London, and everyone knows. Third, if everyone knows, what exactly happened with the orphanage? Did anyone even notice Sophie was gone?
However, none of these hindered my enjoyment of the book, and most kids of six wouldn't notice-I only noticed these as a teenager!-so I recommend the book. I loved all the Roald Dahl chapter books when I was five, "The Witches" being the first chapter book I read by myself, and I recommend them all.
*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Sep 07, 2010 13:46:05
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