The BFG (Book & CD)

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Dahl, Roald (2005). Uriașul cel príetenos (in Romanian). Translated by Mădălina Monica Badea. Bucharest: RAO International. OCLC 63542578. Another niggling doubt about the book was the resolution with the giants being imprisoned in a giant pit, doomed to eat disgusting snozzcumbers for the rest of their lives. I think that Dahl was well-intentioned in including the conversation between the BFG and Sophie about how humans make their own rules, and giants make their own rules and that the rules don't coincide. When I got to this conversation, which included the the BFG basically telling Sophie that it was somewhat judgmental or short-sighted of her to immediately think of the other giants as bad, because humans, unlike giants, kill their own kind all the time, I thought that the story was incredibly promising. However, the story ended as they typically do, especially in "children's" literature, with the "bad" guys getting captured and the "good" guys living happily ever after without the moral ambiguity that Dahl touched upon in that one particular conversation between Sophie and the BFG. I think that it might have been more interesting if it was ever brought up that perhaps giants just eat humans just as humans eat bacon, sausage, and eggs, just as Sophie, the BFG, and the Queen did at the end of the story, and that perhaps the solution would be to respect all life, just as the BFG always had (before uncharacteristically eating all that bacon and sausage at the end of the novel) because he could hear the world's suffering. Instead, as I mentioned, the story has a more typical ending, and it is emotionally acceptable that the human-eating giants are imprisoned with disgusting food for the rest of their lives (and the Queen is humane for imprisoning them rather than killing them, to boot) only because Dahl portrays the giants as disgusting throughout the entire novel. Although the giants are portrayed as mean in the scene during which they toss around the BFG, emphasis is continuously on how the giants are "half-naked and disgusting" in their appearance and smell. Thus, emphasis is placed on their physical, rather than moral disgustingness, and to me, this is too reminiscent of the way that we vilify those who are different than us to justify our inhuman treatment of them.

The Big Friendly Giant is the only one of his kind to disapprove of eating human beings. He was out one night, blowing dreams into sleeping children’s windows when he was spotted by Sophie. The BFG has won numerous awards including the 1985 Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis as the year's best children's book, in its German translation Sophiechen und der Riese [16] and the 1991 Read Alone and Read Aloud BILBY Awards from the Children's Book Council of Australia. [17] An animated adaptation was released in 1989 with David Jason providing the voice of the BFG and Amanda Root as the voice of Sophie. It has also been adapted as a theatre performance. [2] A theatrical Disney live-action adaptation directed by Steven Spielberg was released in 2016. Roald Dahl was born in Wales of Norwegian parents – the child of a second marriage. His father and elder sister died when Roald was just three. His mother was left to raise two stepchildren and her own four children. Roald was her only son. Despite Roald Dahl having enjoined his publishers not to "so much as change a single comma in one of my books", in February 2023 Puffin Books, a division of Penguin Books, announced it would be re-writing portions of many of Dahl's children's novels, changing the language to, in the publisher's words, "ensure that it can continue to be enjoyed by all today." [8] The decision was met with sharp criticism from groups and public figures including authors Salman Rushdie [9] [10] [11] and Christopher Paolini, [11] British prime minister Rishi Sunak, [9] [10] Queen Camilla, [9] [12] Kemi Badenoch, [13] PEN America, [9] and Brian Cox. [13] Dahl's publishers in the United States, France, and the Netherlands announced they had declined to incorporate the changes. [9]The Butcher Boy: The youngest of the nine man-eating giants. Motion-captured by Michael Adamthwaite in the 2016 film. Quentin was the inaugural Children's Laureate (1999-2001), an experience he recorded in his book Laureate's Progress. During his time in the role, he celebrated children's books and children's book illustration with a range of projects and exhibitions, and conceived the idea for the House of Illustration, the world's first centre dedicated to the art of illustration in all its forms.

Well, that is the nicest present anybody is ever giving me in my whole life!' cried the BFG. 'Are you sure you is not twiddling my leg?' 'Of course not,' Sophie said. 'I just love the way you talk.' 'How wondercrump!' cried the BFG, still beaming. 'How whoopsey-splunkers! How absolutely squiffling! I is all of a stutter.' 'Listen,' Sophie said. 'We don't have to eat snozzcumbers. In the fields around our village there are all sorts of lovely vegetables like cauliflowers and carrots. Why don't you get some of those next time you go visiting?' The BFG raised his great head proudly in the air. 'I is a very honourable giant,' he said. 'I would rather be chewing up rotsome snozzcumbers than snitching things from other people.' 'You stole me,' Sophie said. 'I did not steal you very much,' said the BFG, smiling gently. 'After all, you is only a tiny little girl.' 46 The characters in this book are: HUMANS: THE QUEEN OF ENGLAND MARY, the Queen's maid MR TIBBS, the Palace butler THE HEAD OF THE ARMY THE HEAD OF THE AIR FORCE And, of course, SOPHIE, an orphan GIANTS: THE FLESHLUMPEATER THE BONECRUNCHER THE MANHUGGER THE CHILDCHEWER THE MEATDRIPPER THE GIZZARDGULPER THE MAIDMASHER THE BLOODBOTTLER 6Dahl, Roald (2016). BFG (in Polish). Translated by Katarzyna Szczepańska-Kowalczuk. Kraków: Społeczny Instytut Wydawniczy Znak. OCLC 956576565. Sophie: The imaginative, creative, nearsighted and kind-hearted protagonist of the story who becomes a brave international heroine. Named after Dahl's first grandchild, Sophie Dahl. [7] Voiced by Amanda Root in the 1989 film and portrayed by Ruby Barnhill in the 2016 film. Wellington?' Sophie said. 'Where is Wellington?' 'Your head is full of squashed flies,' the Giant said. 'Wellington is in New Zealand. The human beans in Wellington has an especially scrumdiddlyumptious taste, so says the Welly-eating Giant.' 'What do the people of Wellington taste of?' Sophie asked. 'Boots,' the Giant said. 'Of course,' Sophie said. 'I should have known.' Sophie decided that this conversation had now gone on long enough. If she was going to be eaten, she'd rather get it over and done with right away than be kept hanging around any more. 'What sort of human beings do you eat?' she asked, trembling. 'Me!' shouted the Giant, his mighty voice making the glass jars rattle on their shelves. 'Me gobbling up human beans! This I never! The others, yes! All the others is gobbling them up every night, but not me! I is a freaky Giant! I is a nice and jumbly Giant! I is the only nice and jumbly Giant in Giant Country! I is THE BIG FRIENDLY GIANT! I is the BFG. What is your name?' 'My name is Sophie,' Sophie said, hardly daring to believe the good news she had just heard. 26 As of 2009, the novel has sold 37 million copies, with more than 1 million copies sold around the world every year. [3] In 2003, The BFG was listed at number 56 in The Big Read, a BBC survey of the British public. [4] In 2012, the novel was ranked number 88 among all-time best children's novels in a survey published by School Library Journal, a US monthly. [5] In 2012, the BFG and Sophie appeared on Royal Mail commemorative postage stamps. [6] Plot [ edit ]

Without doubt, Roald Dahl is one of the most beloved children's authors in the English language. And, among an impressive body of work, The BFG stands tall as one of his greatest creations. From its instantly-recognisable characters, to the light-hearted nature of its prose, there's a lot to like about this classic children's story. So, if you find yourself looking for a book to cover in your guided reading sessions, then we can't recommend it highly enough. In closing, although I enjoyed this book because of Dahl's creativity in coming up with a BFG and a dreamblower, etc, I don't think that it should hold such a coveted place in children's literature because it is somewhat outdated in its attitude, and there are many, many wonderful children's adventure novels out there with which to replace it. I think that it would be a good novel to discuss with kids, but I don't think that parents/teachers should just give it to kids an example of a "good book" because remember loving it during their childhood.

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Sophie, a little "human bean," gets up one night and spies from her window, a long spindly shape creeping around in the dark. Much to her horror, a real-life giant bounds up to her window and snatches her. He whisks her away to giant country where she learns that every night, giants steal humans for their dinner and would eat her in a heartbeat. Dahl, Roald (2000). 好心眼儿巨人 (in Chinese). Translated by Rong Rong Ren. Jinan: Ming tian Chu ban she.