Wednesday, September 28, 2016

The BFG Review Part 1

The witching hour. Even the title of the first chapter set a scene and distinctive feeling in my mind. I've never read The BFG before, and although I've seen commercials for the feature film, I never really knew what the story was about. During the witching hour, Sophie is captured by no ordinary giant and swiftly taken to his cave where she quickly learns about the world of giants, repulsive snozzcumbers, and why "upgoing bubbles is a catasterous disastrophe." The story is full of life and constant movement which I found very enjoyable. There hasn't been a boring part yet! And if there has been, it was quickly forgotten due to a funny antic in the story. Although I didn't love it at first, my favorite part of the book so far might just be the way the BFG talks. 


“A whizzpopper!" cried the BFG, beaming at her. "Us giants is making whizzpoppers all the time! Whizzpopping is a sign of happiness. It is music in our ears! You surely is not telling me that a little whizzpopping if forbidden among human beans?” The language throughout this book is truly silly and such a fun way to play with language. When the BFG first started talking to Sophie I was honestly almost put off in a way because it was hard to get around the words and sentence structure. I found myself needing to pay close attention to what he was saying and reading every word exactly as it's written. Sometimes before even finishing reading a whole word, my mind immediately fills in what the word will be. But you can't do that in this book! You might think you're reading one word, but it ends up being completely different four letters in. But once I let go of my inhibitions the babbling of the BFG was hilarious and I love reading the way he talks. He even began to take on a particular voice in my head. Whizzpoppers, squiff-squiddled, whoppsy-whiffling, and frobscottle are all delightful words that any child would love. They create an image, a sound, smells, and even awful tastes. 

The snozzecumber is one of my favorite descriptions in the story especially thinking of how kids can often be with vegetables. "'It's filthing!' he splutered, speaking with his mouth full and spraying large pieces of snozzcumber like bullets in Sophie's direction...'It's sickable! It's rotsome! It's maggotwise!...to me it is tasting of clockcoaches and slimewanglers!'" The words and sentence structure make the story fun and entertaining for the reader, however I do think that it could be difficult for a younger reader to get through the text. But it would work wonderfully as a read-aloud! 


Throughout Sophie's adventure I came across hilarious sayings and scenarios that I simply loved. In the beginning, the BFG was explaining to Sophie what people from certain countries tasted like. In Denmark, the people taste very much like dogs, as do the people of Labrador. Obviously Danish people would taste like Great Danes and the people of Labrador would taste like Labradors. Of course! 
"'Wrong! cried the Giant, slapping his thigh. 'Danes from Denmark is tasting doggy because they is tasting of labradors.'" And the people of Labrador taste like Danes. Of course! What were Sophie and I thinking?! 

I also found it rather funny how the BFG would ask Sophie "right or left?" at the end of a question just like we would say, "We're having snozzcumbers for dinner, right?" It's such a small detail but I know that kids and adults will get a kick out of it just like I did. The book is full of similar details which are so small but work together to create quite a fun story. 

I would love to create an entire interdisciplinary unit around this book...from English to math, science, art, and beyond, there are so many fun and unique ideas that you could use in the classroom. There are a plethora of interesting creative writing ideas: what might happen in 'the witching hour', create some aditional similes to describe the BFG, think of words to describe snozzcumbers, etc. I think math and science would be fun by using the BFG to discuss measurements and proportions, sound waves, where dreams come from, etc. This book is full of endless possibilities which I think is a great resource for teachers! Dream the Impossible: Creative Literacy Activities



1 comment:

  1. I like how your mind went into questioning what a word meant, when the BFG was talking. I think that could be an interesting question for students. I thought that was funny that the BFG and the other giants described people from different places tasting differently. If you want a fun activity for may be a younger group, ask them what they think they would taste like and why. Maybe they would say pizza because it is their favorite food. I think you could get some really funny answers. I love the idea of adding math or science while reading this book, I think it would bring this book to life for some students.

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