Awards
Children's Book Award
Blue Peter Children's Book Award: Shortlist
Best Children's Book of the Century
Synopses & Reviews
When orphan Sophie is snatched from her bed by a Giant, she fears that he is going to eat her. But although he carries her far away to Giant Country, the Giant has no intention of harming her. As he explains in his unique way of talking, "I is the only nice and jumbly Giant in Giant Country! I is THE BIG FRIENDLY GIANT! I is the BFG." The BFG tells Sophie how he mixes up dreams to blow through a trumpet into the ears of children. But soon, all the BFG's powers are put to the test as he and Sophie battle to stop the other Giants from tucking into the children of the world. The RAF and even the Queen become involved in the mission.
The BFG shows Roald Dahl at his most warm and dream-like as he depicts the amazing friendship between a little girl and a big-hearted Giant. The BFG won the Children's Book Award and was an instant hit in the UK. It became Dahl's most popular title in Germany, winning the most important German prize for children's books, the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis in 1984.
Review
"Roald Dahl, helped by the magical illustrations of Quentin Blake, has given us the nicest, kindest and most original giant in the world." Julia Eccleshare in the Afterword to the Puffin Modern Classic Edition
Review
"A book that ever child should like." L'Espresso (Italy)
Review
"Highly unusual, often hilarious, and occasionally vulgar, even grisly. In other words, pure Dahl." Booklist
Review
"Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake are uncanny in their understanding of what children like to read and see. The BFG allows children a recognition of the habits, dreams and humour that they alone possess." New York Times
Review
"Readers are in the presence of a genius." School Library Journal
Review
"Flamboyant and fast-moving fantasy will undoubtedly provoke unseemly gales of merriment." Horn Book
Synopsis
Luckily for Sophie, the BFG is nothing like his neighbors, whose favorite pastime is guzzling little children.
About the Author
Roald Dahl is, quite simply, one of the best-loved children‛s book authors of all time. He died in 1990 in Oxford, England, at the age of 74.
Quentin Blake has illustrated most of Roald Dahl‛s children‛s books. The Children‛s Laureate of the United Kingdom, he teaches illustration at the Royal College of Art in London.