Wednesday, June 27, 2012

The BFG

Finished The BFG by Roald Dahl, illustrated by Quentin Blake. BFG stands for Big Friendly Giant. While the BFG is big, he is considered a runt by the other giants who live in his land. None of them are friendly. They are horrible, odious, odorous fiends who snatch humans from their beds and eat them. The BFG, on the other hand, is a collector of dreams. He captures and jars them like fireflies and then releases good dreams into the rooms of sleeping children. He does this in great secrecy, in the dead of night. One night he is observed by a small girl named Sophie. When he realizes that he has been seen he picks Sophie up and takes her back to the land of giants. There he explains himself and alerts her to the danger of the other horrible giants. Sophie is appalled by his account of these giants and says that something must be done to stop them. Together, she and the BFG devise a plan to alert the Queen of England to the danger and enlist her help.

The BFG is benevolent. He is also the king of malapropisms. This book made me laugh until I cried. Blake's drawings of Queen Elizabeth II charmingly capture her facial expressions. This book is a new favorite and highly recommended.

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