Books
x dismiss this message

Did you know you can edit this page?

see page history

Description edit see section history

I have been wanting to share this book since I was in Grade 2 and my teacher then (Mrs Vango!) read this book to us. I've loved it ever since, and 2MO seems to be loving it so far too. We are looking forward to getting past the scary beginning parts though!

Summary edit see section history

Sophie is an orphan who can't sleep. The night of the "witching hour" she looks out the window and spots the BFG, and he spots her. He captures Sophie and takes her back home to giant country. She discovers that the BFG is a friendly giant so he won't eat her, and is anomaly in Giant Country... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

Sophie is an orphan who can't sleep. The night of the "witching hour" she looks out the window and spots the BFG, and he spots her. He captures Sophie and takes her back home to giant country. She discovers that the BFG is a friendly giant so he won't eat her, and is anomaly in Giant Country because of his kindness. The BFG captures dreams and blows them into children's rooms at night. Together, the BFG and Sophie develop a plot to enlist the help of the Queen of England to put an end to the terrible acts of the other giants of Giant Country.

Characters/People edit see section history

  • Sophie: An orphan who has big ideas and a big heart. Like the BFG , she dissaproves of giants eating people. She is very sweet and likes correcting people.
  • The BFG: The Big Friendly Giant is a main character, too. He is the only giant who doesn't eat people, but eats disgusting snozzcumbers instead. He gives well behaved children pleasant dreams in the dream-world and has ears as big as satellite dishes.
  • The Queen of England: Well... The queen of England
  • Mary: Mary is the Queen of England's trusty maid.
  • Mr. Tibbs: The Palace Butler. An intelligent and clever fellow who carefully executes the Queen's orders.
  • The Head of the Army: Drives the jeeps that catch the Giants.
  • The Head of the Air Force: He flies the helicopters that capture the giants.
  • The Fleshlumpeater: The largest and meanest of the Giants.
  • The Childchewer: One of the 9 people-eating giants.
  • The Bonecruncher: One of the 9 people-eating giants.
  • The Manhugger: One of the 9 people-eating giants.
  • The Meatdripper: One of the 9 people-eating giants.
  • The Gizzardgulper: One of the 9 people-eating giants.
  • The Maidmasher: One of the 9 people-eating giants.
  • The Bloodbottler: One of the 9 people-eating giants who almost eats Sophie by mistake.
  • The Butcher Boy: One of the 9 people-eating giants.
Show all 16 characters
Popular Covers

Loading covers…

Choose your book’s cover

Quotes edit see section history

  • “"The witching hour, somebody had once whispered to her, was a special moment in the middle of the night when every child and every grown-up was in a deep deep sleep, and all the dark things came out from hiding and had the world all to themselves."”
  • “"Everyone must be drinking frobscottle with breakfast, Majester. Then we can all be whizzpopping happily together afterwards."”
    The BFG
  • “"Cheers Big Ears!"”
  • “"The matter with human beans," the BFG went on, "is that they is absolutely refusing to believe in anything unless they is actually seeing it right in front of their own schnozzles."”
    the BFG
  • “Sophie was silent. This extraordinary giant was disturbing her ideas. He seemed to be leading her toward mysteries that were beyond her understanding.”
  • “A dream is not needing anything," the BFG went on. "If it is a good one, it is waiting peaceably forever until it is released and allowed to do its job. If it is a bad one, it is always fighting to get out.”
    the BFG

Setting & Locations edit see section history

England
  • Giant Country: Where the giants live.
  • Dream Country: The place where the BFG goes to capture dreams.
  • London: Where the Queen's Palace is
  • Wellington: Where Sophie is from
  • Chile: Giants love to eat people from Chile because they taste like chilli
  • Turkey: Giants hate to eat people from turkey because they taste like turkey

First Sentence edit see section history

Sophie couldn't sleep.

Table of Contents edit see section history

1. The Witching Hour
2. Who?
3. The Snatch
4. The Cave
5. The BFG
6. The Giants
7. The Marvellous Ears
8. Snozzcumbers
9. The Bloodbottler
10. Frobscottle and Whizzpoppers
11. Journey to Dream Country
12. Dream-Catching
13. A Trogglehumper for the Flesheater
14. Dreams
15. The Great Plan
16. Mixing the Dream
17. Journey to London
18. The Palace
19. The Queen
20. The Royal Breakfast
21. The Plan
22. Capture!
23. Feeding Time
24. The Author

Glossary edit see section history

  • Murderful: Full of murderous intent
  • whoppsy-whiffling: Describe this term.
  • scrumdiddlyumtious: Delightful, mind-blowing, especially with regard to flavor
  • uckyslush: Unpalatable, dirty. Antonym: scrumdiddlyumptious
  • bundongle: A container so small that it is hardly useful for holding anything, and is often left to gather dust in a trinket cabinet. Not to be confused with boondoggle
  • babblement: Conversation
  • whooshey: To a great extent.
  • Snozzcumber: A vegetable in Giant Country that looks like a huge, black/white striped cucumber and has a slimy structure. It's absolutely disgusting.
  • Frobscottle: A sweet drink that the BFG loves. It's got bubbles that go down and make you Whizpop
  • Whizpopping: Flatulating; passing gas; farting
  • Trogglehumper: A nightmare
  • fridgy: freezing or overly cold
  • scrumplet: a term of endearment.
Show all 13 glossary entries

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

Series & Lists edit see section history

This is book 56 of 200 in BBC 'Big Read' Top 200 Novels, 2003. (authoritative list)
This is book 97 of 97 in Waterstone's Top 100 Books of the 20th Century. (authoritative list)
This book is in 100 Fantabulous Book Challenge. (community list)
This is book 25 of 216 in Whitcoulls Kids' Top 50 (2011). (authoritative list)
This is book 56 of 82 in BBC "Big Read" Top 100 Novels. (authoritative list)
This is book 624 of 986 in 1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up. (authoritative list)

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Roald Dahl (Author)

Other Contributors:

  1. Quentin Blake (Illustrator)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: Jonathan Cape
Country: Great Britain
Publication Date: 1982
ISBN: 0141301058
Page Count: 208

Classification edit see section history

  • Library of Congress: PZ7.D1515Bf
  • Dewey: 823.914

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Reading Level: Ages 9-12

Good Childrens book.

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

Movie Connections edit see section history


We’re hiding the organizations, errata, books with additional background information, books that influenced this book, books influenced by this book, books that cite this book and books cited by this book sections. If you would like to add content to them, you must first make them visible.