The BFG (1982) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

show spoilers

Summary edit see section history

Characters/People edit see section history

show spoilers

• 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.

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

• 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

Table of Contents edit see section history

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.

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

show spoilers

• Don't be afraid of Giants or the Dark: Describe this theme.
• Friendship
• Figurative Language: There is an extensive use of figurative language in this book which could benefit students in the classroom.

Series & Lists edit see section history

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Roald Dahl (Author)

Other Contributors:

1. Quentin Blake (Illustrator)

First Edition edit see section history

Awards edit see section history

• Federation of Children's Book Groups Award (UK 1982) (1982)
• Deutsche Jugend Literatur Preis, Germany (1984)
• International Board on Books for Young People awards for Norwegian and German translations (1986) (1986)
• Good Book Guide "Best Books of the Past 20 Years" (UK 1997) (1997)
• Whitcoulls Kids' Top 50 (2011) (2011, #6)
• BBC's Big Read (April 2003, #56)

Classification edit see section history

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

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Good Childrens book.

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Children's Books › Authors & Illustrators, A-Z › ( D ) › Dahl, Roald
• Books › Children's Books › Literature › Classics by Age › Ages 9-12
• Books › Children's Books › People & Places › Girls & Women › Fiction

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

• Wise Owl Factory Reading Page: The Wise Owl Factory has free PDF work pages with a key for the BGF. It has free lessons for elementary teachers.
• Roald Dahl Fans (complete site with teacher resources): Teacher Resources

Movie Connections edit see section history

• The BFG (IMDb): Animation