BFG

TItle: The BFG
AUthor: Roald Dahl
Genre: Children's Literature
SOurce: Kindle Ebook
Rating: 4 out of 5


A young girl Sophie, unable to sleep, sees a large, no a giant man blow something into the window of the house next door.  When he sees her in the window he snatches her up, and takes her home so that she doesn't tell anyone else.  There Sophie learns the other giants eat humans at night, including children.  Sophie also learns the BFG is not a human eating giant but one that spreads good dreams to children.  Sophie creates a plan to convince the queen of England to imprison the human eating giant where BFG creates a nightmare about it and leaves Sophie in her room to confirm.  A fleet of helicopters follow Sophie and BFG back home and capture the sleeping giants and imprison them in a pit.  A castle is built for BFG and a cabin next door for Sophie.  And BFG ends up writing a novel about their adventure which is aptly titled" The BFG."

I read this one because it was published the year I was born, and I have heard a lot of good things about but never had the chance to read it. It was interesting to say the least.  The giant's speech was a little rough to get used too, but I am sure as a child it would have been a lot of fun reading and trying to pronounce some words like Snozzcumbers. If it was getting confused as an adult, wouldn't children be getting a little confused as well?  I really got into this story and would like to see how the story adapted into the movie version that was recently released.  I loved movies like Charlie and The Chocolate Factory and Matilda, so maybe I will enjoy this one as well.

There are some things that I think may not have been good for children such as later on the novel a character talking about chopping off heads like one would chop parsley.  That's an odd image to give to children, maybe I thought of it differently because I am an adult reading it.  I don't normally read children's literature so I am not sure how different authors target their audience in the past nor the present, and this might be one of those ways: glossing over some adult themes with child-like innocence.  I did enjoy the book and would recommend it to others to read with their children.  The book was rather short so I see it as something that would be good for parents to read a chapter at night or even to use as a teaching tool to help their children read more, and read better.


Give it a shot and take a stab at reading this one, it's a children's classic.  I'll most likely add it to my children's shelf when I have them.