I can’t believe I ever let this book slip through the cracks!
We read this Roald Dahl book while traveling over the summer, and I can recall laying in the hallway of a friend’s home in Indiana, so that both my kids could hear me read the book aloud from their own private bedrooms. I can also recall trying not to be so loud as to bother our hosts, even though I was reading the initial passages about Frobscottle (the BFG’s fizzy drink with the bubbles that float downward) and the ensuing “whizpopping” that occurs when those bubbles eventually hit bottom! Oh man, what a riot!
This book was among the first Roald Dahl selections we read during this unofficial “Year of Dahl,” so we were still in the early stages of trying to figure him out as an author. Of course, we’ve read something like 9 or 10 books by now, and honestly, we still haven’t figured him out! He’s magical and funny, but also dark and occasionally disturbing. I’m glad I get to read these books with my kids, both because I’m as entertained as they are, but also because I get to soften any murder and mayhem that might occur for the kids.
This book mixes a young orphan girl’s English life with a secret world of giants that collide during “the witching hour” when everyone’s supposed to be fast asleep. When Sophie witnesses the BFG’s presence in the darkened London streets, she gets taken to his magical land as a prisoner of sorts, the BFG telling her that she’ll never be able to return to her own world again.
The “BFG” stands for “Big Friendly Giant” (I was glad to learn) and throughout the book, we get to see more and more of both his kindness and his sadness. The problem for the BFG is that he is a bit of a loner in Giant Land. Unlike the other brutes (like Bloodbottler), giants all much larger than he, the BFG does not spend his nights heading into the world to eat children. Instead, he goes into the world to capture and share with the children good and pleasant dreams. He captures dreams, mixing them and creating the most wonderful nighttime scenes that he can then blow into the kids’ minds each night. This is what Sophie had witnessed, and this is why she’s never allowed to go back home.
Ultimately, Sophie enlists the help of Queen Elizabeth II (aw!) to help capture and imprison the bad children-eating giants, but only after introducing her not only to the BFG, but also to Frobscottle. That whole scene had us rolling, and made for a whizpopper of a tale!
We loved this story immensely, perhaps more than any other we’ve read thus far. I can’t believe I didn’t review it immediately so I could get the kids’ reactions, but oh well.
One other thing to throw out there: this book reminded me of one of Dahl’s short stories I read earlier this Spring, “The Sound Machine Story.” I think it’s pretty cool that he could take what’s essentially an adult short story and turn it into one of the most memorable children’s stories of the century. That’s a good writer.
©2022 E.T.
Read More from Roald Dahl:
- Adult Short Stories:
Over to You (1946)
Someone Like You (1953)
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (1977) - Children Fiction:
James and the Giant Peach (1961)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964)
The Magic Finger (1964)
Fantastic Mr. Fox (1970)
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator (1972)
Danny the Champion of the World (1975)
The Enormous Crocodile (1978)
The Twits (1980)
George’s Marvelous Medicine (1981)
The BFG (1982)
Dirty Beasts (1983)
Boy: Tales of Childhood (1984)
The Giraffe, the Pelly, and Me (1985)
Going Solo (1986)
Matilda (1988)
Esio Trot (1990)
The Minpins (1991)
The Vicar of Nibbleswicke (1991)