This is a great book! Even the name pulls you in. BFG, it means Big Friendly Giant. You have to read it. It's Great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The BFG
-
Is it age appropriate?
About our ratings -
Is it any good?
-
Common Sense says
Silly classic is great read-aloud.
updated 01.28.10
Why We Rated This 
for Ages 6 and Up
The good stuff
-
Role models:
What to watch out for
-
Violence:
-
Sex:
-
Language:
-
Consumerism:
-
Drinking, drugs, & smoking:
What Parents Need to Know
This review of The BFG was written by Matt Berman
Parents need to know that there's no more to be concerned about here than in your average fairy tale. Giants eat kids offstage and talk about how tasty they are, which might bother very sensitive kids. The made-up language, though, will be difficult for the lower end of the target age group to read themselves, so it works best as a read-aloud.
Families Can Talk About
Talk to your kids about the media in their life. We have more tools and tips that can help
- Families can talk about the made-up words the author uses.
- Can you tell how he put them together? Parents may want to encourage kids to make up words of their own.
Have you read it? Review It!
More on The BFG
Book Summary
One night when Sophie can't sleep, she goes to the window of her orphanage and sees a giant walking down the street, blowing something into the windows. When the giant sees her, he grabs her and takes her back to his desert cave home.
There he explains, in his strange and garbled English, that he was blowing dreams into the minds of children, and that the other giants who live in the desert -- and are twice his size -- eat children all over the world. He, though, is the Big Friendly Giant (BFG), and eats nothing but disgusting snozzcumbers. But when the other giants head to England to eat children, Sophie hatches a plan, involving dreams, the Queen of England, and the BFG, to stop them once and for all.
Is It Any Good?
Each of the late Roald Dahl's whoppsy-whiffling stories has some unique element that sets it apart, both from his other works and from those of anyone else. Here it's language -- sheer, unadulterated, silly playing with language. The BFG speaks most terrible wigglish -- after all, he has never been to school, and "sometimes is saying things a little squiggly." Everything he wants to say "is always getting squiff-squiddled around."
All of this babblement makes this a delightful read-aloud, both for the listener, and for the adult reader who can let go of inhibitions and have fun with the twitch-tickling wordplay. And, while your child is rolling on the floor, if you're not as quacky as a duckhound, if your head isn't full of frogsquinkers, buzzwangles, and bugwhiffles, then you'll soon understand why "upgoing bubbles is a catasterous disastrophe."
Publisher’s Details
Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux, Publication date: 5/21/2006
Number of pages: 208, Price: $6.99 (paperback)
Read Aloud: 6, Read Alone: 8
Number of pages: 208, Price: $6.99 (paperback)
Read Aloud: 6, Read Alone: 8
Our Members Say
See all 13 member reviews
Most Recent Reviews
-
I rate this title on for age 2 and give it
I love this book!
-
I rate this title on for age 2 and give it
I love this book!
This is a great book! Even the name pulls you in. BFG, it means Big Friendly Giant. You have to read it. It's Great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-
I rate this title on for age 8 and give it
- My highlights are:
- Good role models
goood!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
its an excellent book except when the giant says the words wrong so i do not thin little kids should read it.
-
I rate this title on for age 5 and give it
- My highlights are:
- Good role models
To the ungrateful people who run this website.
This is a very lovingly written book for practically all ages. It is a classic, a favorite for nearly every age, and yet you rating is the small empty 'Good Messages' Not an Issue." That is just unacceptable. In fact, almost all of your reviews are the same; unappreciative, empty, and totally ignoring the actual worth of the book. No comments of the writing's good things, there is simply nothing of substance, of clarity, of a proper review. I suggest you improve and make the reviews a little richer in detail.
-
I rate this title on for age 0 and give it
Classic...
I remember the teacher reading this to me in fourth grade and i loved it. In fact, i think i read it like, 3 more times that year.
Give Recommendations, Get Them, Too!
Become a member and get recommendations from other parents based on your child's age.Tell us your child's age:
Already a member? Log inOur Members Rate It
Have you read it?
For Your Family
Get age-based recommendations for your kids:
Customize based on your child's age
Caroline Knorr recommends:
The Last Olympian: Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 5
for kids age 10
See more from Caroline Kno ...
The Last Olympian: Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 5
for kids age 10
See more from Caroline Kno ...
