Griffin Reads – The BFG

Title: The BFG

Author: Roald Dahl

Genre: Middle Grade Classic, Children’s Fantasy

Summary:

During the night, an orphan named Sophie is snatched from her bed by a twenty-foot-tall giant and carried off to Giant Country. She soon discovers her kidnapper is the Big Friendly Giant, a gentle outcast who collects good dreams and blows them into the bedrooms of sleeping children. Unlike the BFG, nine larger, vicious giants leave Giant Country every night to hunt and devour humans around the world. Realizing the danger, Sophie and the BFG team up to create a plan to stop the man-eaters once and for all.

Content Guide:

• Peril involving child-eating monsters (scary concepts, but treated with comedic absurdity)
• Mild kidnapping themes
• Potty humor centered on fictional soft drinks and flatulence
• No language, sexual content, or graphic violence

My Thoughts:

My first memory of this book was one of my grade school teachers reading it aloud in a classroom. With only that vague recollection and the hunger for chapter books from my three daughters for their bedtime stories, I decided to revisit yet another Dahl story for children. It didn’t disappoint.

I may be biased, but I would argue that Dahl’s books for children are best when read out loud. There’s a rhythm and cadence built into each page, an almost singsong flow and bizarrity reminiscent of Dr. Seuss but for more adept listeners. The BFG is rife with linguistic playfulness. The BFG’s near-phonetic dialect and gobblefunk words are playful tongue-twisters that made my daughters giggle and my wife chuckle as she secretly listened in.

What sets this book apart from Dahl’s other work like Matilda or James and the Giant Peach is how surprisingly quiet and intimate the core dynamic is. Most of the story focuses on a small, logical orphan girl and an enormous, sensitive giant sitting in a cave talking about dreams, morality, and human nature. However, there’s plenty that is both fun and funny here, and our family’s favorite scenes were the various misadventures when the queen of England invites the BFG to breakfast.

This book is for parents looking for a fun read-aloud story for their little ones as well as young readers who appreciate a little bit of dark tension mixed into their humor. It is imaginative, delightfully weird, and a wonderful reminder of why Dahl remains a staple on family bookshelves.