The BFG
The BFG (short for The Big Friendly Giant) is a 1982 children's book written by British novelist Roald Dahl and illustrated by Quentin Blake. It is an expansion of a short story from Dahl's 1975 book "Danny, the Champion of the World". The book is dedicated to Dahl's late daughter, Olivia, who died of measles encephalitis at the age of seven in 1962. As of 2009, the novel has sold 37 million copies in UK editions alone, with more than 1 million copies sold around the world every year. An animated adaptation was released in  1989 with David Jason providing the voice of the BFG and Amanda Root as the voice of Sophie. It has also been adapted as a theatre performance. A theatrical Disney live-action adaptation directed by Steven Spielberg was released in 2016. Plot. The start of the book begins with an eight-year-old orphan girl named Sophie lying in bed in an orphanage run by Mrs. Clonkers. She cannot sleep, and sees a strange sight in the street; a Giant Man, carrying a bag and an odd trumpet. He sees Sophie, who tries to hide in bed, but the  giant picks her up through the window. Then he runs quickly to a large cave, which he enters. When he sets Sophie down, she begins to plead for her life, believing that the giant will eat her. The giant laughs and explains that most giants do eat human beings (which he pronounces as "human beans"), and that the people's origins affect their taste. For example, people from Greece taste greasy while people from Panama taste of hats. The giant then says that he will not eat her as he is the Big Friendly Giant, or BFG for short. The  BFG explains that she must stay with him forever so that no one can know of his existence. He warns her of the dangers of leaving his cave as his nine neighbours are sure to eat her if they catch her. He also explains what he was doing with the trumpet and suitcase. He catches dreams, stores them in the cave, and then gives the good ones to children all around the world. He destroys the bad ones. The BFG then explains that he eats the only edible plant that will grow in the giants' homeland: snozzcumbers, which are disgusting  striped cucumber-like vegetables with wart-like growths that taste like frog skins and rotten fish to Sophie and cockroaches and slime wanglers to the BFG. Another giant called the Bloodbottler then storms in. Sophie hides in a snozzcumber and is nearly accidentally eaten by the Bloodbottler. Bloodbottler luckily spits her out and then leaves in disgust. When Sophie announces she is thirsty, the BFG treats her to a fizzy soda pop drink called "frobscottle", which is delicious to both of them, and which causes noisy flatulence, which the BFG calls "Whizzpopping", because of the bubbles sinking downwards, rather than  floating upwards. The next morning, the BFG takes Sophie to Dream Country to catch more dreams, but is tormented by the man-eating giants along the way, notably by their leader the Fleshlumpeater, the largest and most fearsome of the giants. 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 when Fleshlumpeater has a nightmare about a giant killer named Jack. Sophie later persuades him to approach the Queen of England about imprisoning the other giants. To this end , she uses her knowledge of London to navigate the BFG to Buckingham Palace and the BFG creates a nightmare for the Queen which describes the man-eating giants 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. A fleet of helicopters then follows Sophie and the BFG to the giants' homeland where the giants are tied up as they sleep and the helicopters carry them back to London where they are imprisoned in a deep pit with sheer walls  and a high safety fence. The BFG is lowered in to untie them. Untying Fleshlumpeater last, he explains why they are being imprisoned. Outraged, Fleshlumpeater roars that they will devour the BFG instead, but he is hoisted out to safety. The man-eating giants find themselves being only fed snozzcumbers. On one occasion though, there is an incident where three drunken men climb over the fence surrounding the pit, fall in, and are eaten by the giants. Meanwhile, the orphanage is closed down and sold to become a teacherage. Afterwards, a huge castle is built as the BFG's new  house, with a little cottage next door for Sophie. While they are living happily in England, gifts come from the governments of every country ever targeted by the giants (notably England, Sweden, Arabia, India, Panama, Tibet, Jersey, Chile, and New Zealand). After Sophie teaches the BFG how to read and write proper English, he writes a book of their adventures identified as the novel itself—under the name "Roald Dahl". References in other Roald Dahl books. The BFG first appears as a story told to Danny by his father in "Danny, the Champion of the World". The ending is almost  the same as "James and the Giant Peach", when he writes a story about himself, by himself. Also, Mr. Tibbs relates to Mrs. Tibbs, the friend of Mr. Gilligrass, the U.S. president in "Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator". Awards and recognition. "The BFG" has won numerous awards including the 1985 Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis as the year's best children's book, in its German translation "Sophiechen und der Riese" and the 1991 Read Alone and Read Aloud BILBY Awards. In 2003 it was ranked number 56 in The Big Read, a two-stage survey of the British public by the  BBC to determine the "Nation's Best-loved Novel". The U.S. National Education Association listed "The BFG" among the "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children" based on a 2007 online poll. In 2012, it was ranked number 88 among all-time children's novels in a survey published by "School Library Journal", a monthly with primarily U.S. audience. It was the fourth of four books by Dahl among the Top 100, more than any other writer. Adaptations. Comic strip. Between 1986 and 1998, the novel was adapted into a newspaper comic by journalist Brian Lee and artist Bill Asprey. It  was published in the "Mail on Sunday" and originally a straight adaptation, with scripts accepted by Roald Dahl himself. After a while the comic started following its own storylines and continued long after Dahl's death in 1990. Stage play. The play was adapted for the stage by David Wood and premiered at the Wimbledon Theatre in 1991. Films. 1989 film. On 25 December 1989, ITV broadcast an animated film based on the book and produced by Cosgrove Hall Films on television, with David Jason providing the voice of the BFG and Amanda Root as the voice of Sophie. The  film was dedicated to animator George Jackson who worked on numerous Cosgrove Hall productions. 2016 film. A theatrical live-action film adaptation was produced by Walt Disney Pictures, directed by Steven Spielberg, and starring Mark Rylance as the BFG, as well as Ruby Barnhill, Penelope Wilton, Jemaine Clement, Rebecca Hall, Rafe Spall, and Bill Hader. The film was released on 1 July 2016, to positive critical reception. TV series. A TV series based on "The BFG" is being developed as part of Netflix's "animated series event", based on Roald Dahl's books.