When was bfg written

I think that Dahl's idea for the story is a creative one, but little things, such as the puns on the names of countries when the BFG describes the taste of "h Like many others, I remember the Roald Dahl books that I read, or had read to me, during my childhood fondly, including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory , James and the Giant Peach , and especially, Matilda. I think that Dahl's idea for the story is a creative one, but little things, such as the puns on the names of countries when the BFG describes the taste of "human beans" in those countries, or what I think were stereotypical remarks at the end of the novel.

For instance, when Dahl describes thankful world leaders bestowing gifts upon Sophie and the BFG for saving their people from man-eating giants, he writes that "The Rule of India sent the BFG a magnificent elephant The King of Arabia sent them a camel each.

The Lama of Tibet sent them a llama each" pp. However, to me, the worst line was when the Queen of England called the Sultan, "next best thing" to a Lord Mayor to ask him whether any of his subjects had mysteriously disappeared recently, and he responds, "Every night unpleasant things are happening in Baghdad We are chopping off people's heads like you are chopping parsley" p.

To be fair, the novel was copyrighted in , and probably written before such things were widely considered inappropriate, and the book is widely engaging and creative. Some would also say that these things are "just jokes," that they were silliness written for the amusement of children.

In spite of the fact that the novel was written over two decades ago, I do not think that children should just absorb these lines, because they are most likely reading this book at the suggestion of an adult who is, in their mind, only supposed to give them "good" books.

The children would most likely read these lines and the stereotypes exoticizing non-Western countries would persist.

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.

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.

It's a little frustrating that people just think I'm being "oversensitive" or that I'm just another crazy person who wants everything to be PC. I've said many good things about this book. Heck, I even liked it. I just pointed out that I don't think that it's perfect, my reasons for not thinking that it's perfect, and that there are plenty of great books out there for kids to read, so people should at least think a millisecond about what they recommend to kids about the content, child's maturity, and child's personal preferences instead of just pushing their own childhood favorites on them.

View all 25 comments. Shelves: children-s , audiobook. There are a number of books that shape the youth of a child. This was one of those books for me, alongside a handful of other Roald Dahl classics. I remember reading it and having my father do so as well and getting lost in the story, which I did again today. Young Sophie finds herself unable to sleep one night at the orphanage in which she resides.

Peering out the window, she sees a shadowy figure passing down the road, with an odd contraption he uses while poking his head into surround windo There are a number of books that shape the youth of a child. Peering out the window, she sees a shadowy figure passing down the road, with an odd contraption he uses while poking his head into surround windows. When Sophie spots this figure, a colossal giant, she is scooped up and taken off.

Kidnapped, of a sort, Sophie learns that this giant is even larger than he appeared in the shadows, but nowhere near as frightful. That said, the odd giant patois he speaks leaves Sophie to wonder how calm and peaceful he might be. It is in the Land of the Giants that Sophie learns a little more about her captor, the Big Friendly Giant, 'BFG', and the other giant-figures in the area, who have a penchant for human flesh.

Sophie also learns that the BFG possesses the ability to instil and inject dreams into the bedtime thoughts of any person, children in particular. He shoots the magic dream dust into his special pipe and, POOF, off it goes and the individual is left to stream the thoughts through their subconscious. Armed with this information, Sophie has an idea after learning from her new friend of the recent kidnapping number of children across Britain by these foul giants. They will alert this highest authority to ensure these evil giants are captured and brought to justice.

Next stop, Buckingham Palace! The BFG and Sophie work together to convince the Queen, through a dream sequence, that these events have taken place and that Sophie is the key to helping find the giants. Can the Queen use the powers at her disposal to hunt down the kidnapping giants, or will everyone be left with a taste as bitter as snozzcumbers in their mouths? Dahl takes readers on a wonderful journey through some interesting ideas to present one of the central stories known to many young Dahl readers.

Perfect for any age, but especially those with an open and vivid imagination. Dahl continues to marvel with all his ideas and variances on a similar theme. Those who have read a great deal of the author will know he drops references of other books into the narrative, while always keeping things fairly unique and individualised. Dahl offers up a new set of curious characters and some completely horrible villains, as well as the amusing 'power elite' in our actual world.

With much gibberish found in many of Dahl's pieces, this one is chock-full of offbeat words and giant patois, which will have the younger reader or listener giggling as the story continues. There is little left out in this piece that warms the heart as well as gets the its pulse elevated. Perhaps in my top five all-time, this Dahl piece is exquisite in its presentation and delivery. Kudos, Mr. Dahl for keeping me excited throughout this piece. I could not have found a better way to spend a few hours and hope to introduce these to Neo before too long.

View all 12 comments. Few days ago I was in the mood for children books or middle grade books to help me to get over my book - hangover and so I chose to read this book. The way he spoke always confused me. His voice was filled with fury and anguish. The devil is dancing on my dibbler! The story didn't make my heart pounding hard but the story wasn't bad either.

I'm sure I would've liked this book more if I had completely understood all BFG said but most of the time I didn't really understand what he said but I really loved the illustrations!

I hope you all have a great day! View all 8 comments. I really love this book. It's pretty short but the story is very joyful. The BFG is a good giant, he intrigued me with his own language from the first. Sophie is a girl kidnapped from her bed and her adventure just begins when she and the BFG have to stop the ruthless giants before they devour all of human beans.

Dahl could create the book that hooked me from the beginning and the ending of this book was so delightful, I felt very happy after I finished it. I like his writing style, it captivates I really love this book. I like his writing style, it captivates me to no end.

Jul 18, Michael Finocchiaro rated it really liked it Shelves: fiction , kids , novels , fantasy. A fantastic story about a misunderstood giant and a brave little girl. My kids and I loved this story but never saw the movie because we were scared to be disappointed. Dahl's stories are always full of wonderful humour and inventiveness and this was definitely one of his most imaginative.

A wonderful and beautiful masterpiece. View 2 comments. We have all heard the story of Jack and the beanstock, right or left? We are all familiar with stories about giants, right or left?

The BFG was a story that will make people smile but also encourage them to lock their windows at night Takeing place in the United Kingdom the BGF captures hearts all over the world and I am so thankful to Roland Dahl for publising such a sweet book that shows friendship and love. This book captured my heart as it wil yours.

In London, England eight year old Sop We have all heard the story of Jack and the beanstock, right or left? In London, England eight year old Sophie Evans is tucked tight in bed in a girls orphanage when she hears a noise outside durning the witching hour.

Sophie bravely gets out of her bed and looks out the windo and what does she see but a great big giant with a Well a trumpet Sophie quickly runs back to bed and covers her head when a great big hand reaches in and snatches her from her bed in the girls orphanage.

Away the tall creature took her until they ended up in Giant Country Sophie was terrified that the giant was going to eat her but the BFG turned out to be a diffrent kind of giant.

The Big Friendly Giant did not eat human beans because he felt it was disgraceful and wrong but his other giant friends did. The BFG was misunderstod by the others and was often pushed around and called names.

Sophie becamw the BFG's best friend and she had no choice not to live with him because she had seen him that evening in London. The BFG was a dream catcher and he liked to mix certain things to make one dream it was up to him if he wanted to make a god dream or a bad dream.

One day Sophie decided it was time for the other nine giants to be stopped from eating women and children so the BFG and Sophie decided to pay the queen of England a visit and in order to do that they had to mix a nightmare for her to see what was going on in her contry.

Of course i am not going to ruin the whole book for you so i am going to stop there… I can tell you that view spoiler [ The giants were eventualy captured and taken to England where they were forced to live in cages and eat snuzzlecumbers view spoiler [ In my opinion is that this book is kind of scary for children under the third grade No child is going to want to pick up a bok about giants eating children while they are asleep in their beds.

Child: Mommy is there giants outside? From the other room you and your spouse are going to be watching telivision while you rson or daughter is haveing a panic attack at the other side of the house… Why? I got really engaged in the story and i personally wanted more adventure because in the end Roland Dahl speeds up the story way to much like he automaticaly wants it to end because he did not have anymore ideas.

That upset me because the BFG could have been so much more adventuress and the author could have made him and little Sophie more plots. Lots of new words were learned for me in this story that even though are not real words i may still use them scrumdiliumptchus was one of my personal favorites… I rate the BFG with four stars for such a great one- hundred and fifty pages before slipping… The artwork was great and i loved not being able to put the story book down.

View all 7 comments. Mar 06, Sarah Churchill rated it really liked it Shelves: middlegrade , books-i-own , reread. Reread because the trailer for the upcoming movie got me all excited! Classic, love this story so much. Jan 11, Calista rated it really liked it Shelves: classic , award-various , , genre-fantasy , z-roald-dahl , want-to-own , bage-middle-grade. I love the BFG's speech - so original. The tale is loads of fun. The fact that the giant gives people good dreams is enough to convince me he is a Big friendly Giant.

There are beautiful moments in this story and I am impressed by how unique the story is. James and the Giant Peach and Charlie and the chocolate factory are better, but not by much. This is a fantastic story. I remember my brother read this as a kid while I was reading Matilda. I thought about reading the story too, but I didn't because I didn't like the title. What was a BFG, I thought? Seriously, that was my reasoning I missed out on this great story as a kid. Too bad I didn't have reading friends to talk books and someone could have told me to read it.

I sure wasn't going to listen to my brother back then. View all 9 comments. It is so gigantuous I is needing bicurculers! No, I mean it. Kill me now. Oh please, please God, make it stop, make it stop, just make it I is going to be as bug as a snug in a rug up here Sweet mother of God!!!! Am I still alive? Is it over? Please tell me it's over. I scan throug "What a spiffling whoppsy room we is in!

I scan through these 5-star reviews, and I feel like I'm on crazy pills. This book is awful! It's unendurable. This is a classic? Nothing happens in it. There is no story. There is no wit. There is no magic. Giant Country might as well be Walmart, for all the magic it evokes. And then there's the cave. The cave! I've read some of these 4-star reviews - they grudgingly admit that their kid's attention began to wander somewhere in the middle They hated it!

It's the Emperor's New Clothes! I know caves. Caves can be magical. Plato's cave. Tom Sawyer's cave. Robinson Crusoe's cave. Those are magical caves. Because the BFG refuses to eat people or steal food from humans, he subsists on a foul-tasting vegetable known as a snozzcumber.

Sophie hides in the snozzcumber, unknown to the BFG, and the BFG offers the snozzcumber to the Bloodbottler, hoping that its foul taste will repel him from the area; whereupon the Bloodbottler spits out the snozzcumber and Sophie, and leaves in disgust. When Sophie announces she is thirsty, the BFG treats her to a fizzy drink called frobscottle, which causes noisy flatulence: this is known as Whizzpopping. The next morning, the BFG takes Sophie to Dream Country to catch more dreams, but is tormented by the other giants along the way; notably by their leader, the Fleshlumpeater , the largest and most fearsome.

In Dream Country, the BFG demonstrates his dream-catching skills to Sophie; but the BFG mistakenly captures a nightmare, and uses it to start a fight among the other giants.

Sophie later persuades him to approach the Queen of England toward imprisoning the other giants. To this end, the BFG creates a nightmare, introducing knowledge of the man-eating giants to the Queen, and leaves Sophie in the Queen's bedroom to confirm it.

Because the dream included the knowledge of Sophie's presence, the Queen believes her and speaks with the BFG. Roald Dahl did well with the made-up words for the giants, but this was sometimes tricky to read. I would recommend this book to people who like fiction books, but I prefer non-fiction. The book is about a little girl called Sophie that sees a giant out of her bedroom window. The giant takes Sophie away to giant land and Sophie learns a lot about giants. The name of the giant is BFG.

Anyone can read this book. It is for children, grownups and old people. I enjoyed reading the story a lot. I especially liked the book because the BFG speaks in a funny way and makes his own words up. This story is about a little girl called Sophie who finds out that giants really do exist!

My favourite part of the book is when the BFG kidnaps Sophie because it's exciting and dramatic. The BFG uses made up words because he never ever went to school. He has made up long words which are funny, like whizzpopper. Sophie lives in an orphanage and is snatched from her bed in the middle of the night by the BFG. They go to Giant Country and Sophie learns all about giants.

Some of the giants are not very nice like the Fleshlumpeater and his friends. Sophie and the BFG want to stop them eating people, so they make a plan. The story of the BFG is about friendly giant who catches dreams. Sophie, a little girl, frightened to begin with, soon makes the BFG her best friend. My favourite part of the story was when the giants get captured on Giant Island. I think people of all ages would enjoy the book especially young children.

I don't think the story is for little people because it will them nightmares. Roald Dahl is very good at making words up like whizzpopping and snozcumbers. The BFG book is amazing story. She gets taken to a cave and they come up with a plan to capture some mean, scary giants.

I liked the illistrations because they paint pictures in my mind. I think my Mum and Dad would like this book because they've read all the Roald Dhal books. My favourite character is the Head of the Army because he barks orders everywhere. The best part of the story for me when the Giants had the bad dream about being cannibalistic. It's really satisfying as they feel the fear others do.

Scrumdidliumpcious is my favourite BFG word. I like Roald Dahls story because he has made new words in his writing. And when I open the book there is magic on every page!

The BFG is a book about a friendly Giant who snatches a young girl called Sophie from her bed in the middle of the witching hour! My favourite part of the book was when the BFG told Sophie [and us! I hope you enjoy it! Eventually, Sophie will try to help the BFG find a new way to survive and vanquish the truly horrible not-friendly giants who terrorize the poor BFG. The delightfully inventive prose makes The BFG a perfect book for families to discover and enjoy together, as Roald Dahl and the Big Friendly Giant charm and enthrall children of all ages.

Also available in Spanish.