I’m sure nearly everyone has heard of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It introduced me to the work of the famous children’s author, Roald Dahl, and his wonderful illustrator, Quentin Blake. I met Charlie Buckett and Willy Wonka when I was in Grade 5 or 6, thanks to my aunt, Tita Emy, who gave me the book as a gift.

The next time I read anything by Roald Dahl was when I was in Grade 9 or 10, during the Speech Fundamentals class of one of my favorite teachers, Ms. Marj (Margaux) Gutierrez (I know she’s married now, but I don’t know her new last name). We performed snippets from Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes – one was Whirligig Beetles and the other was Cinderella. It was so much fun! I’ll probably write something about Revolting Rhymes some other time, when I’ve bought a new copy (I lost my old one).

Sometime last year, I was feeling pretty bored so I went to PowerBooks and read Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator at the bookstore. It was an easy read, and I finished the book in less than an hour. It was fun as always, but not as good as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

I read The BFG this week courtesy of my friend Mike R, who was cleaning out his library and sending all the books he didn’t like to me. I read it in about an hour, as I couldn’t put it down. It was so hilarious! It officially made Roald Dahl one of my favorite authors, and The BFG one of my favorite books.

The BFG (Big, Friendly Giant) captured an orphan girl named Sophie in the dead of night when she happened to see him. Unlike the other nine giants – namely the Fleshlumpeater the Bonecruncher, the Manhugger, the Childchewer, the Meatdripper, the Gizzardgulper, the Maidmasher, the Bloodbottler and the Butcher Boy – the BFG didn’t eat “human beans.”

Before you can fully appreciate the wonderful words of the BFG, you must remember that he hasn’t had much education, and has major problems with his grammar and use of idioms. As he explained sadly to Sophie after she tried to correct him for the nth time, “I is never having a chance to go to school. I is full of mistakes. They is not my fault. I do my best.”

To read more about The BFG (including my favorite quotes), please click here.