BookBright
ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSSophie is an eight-year-old orphan who can't sleep one night and peers out her dormitory window during what she calls the witching hour, only to spot an enormous figure moving through the village streets, stopping at houses and blowing something through a long trumpet into the upstairs windows. The giant catches her watching and snatches her from her bed, carrying her at terrifying speed to a desolate, faraway place called Giant Country. There she discovers that her captor, who calls himself the BFG, is the Big Friendly Giant, and unlike the nine other giants who share his country, he doesn't eat people. Instead he spends his nights catching dreams from a misty land and blowing them into the bedrooms of sleeping children.
Free Battle of the Books questions for The BFG
SPOILERSEvery one of these has the same answer, and that is the point. In a real battle the question is read aloud with a dozen other books in play, and students have a few seconds to place it. Here is what a battle might ask about The BFG. Use them as a quiz, a trivia round, or BOTB practice.
Where in the book they come from
- Early in the book
In what book do a character's ears each look as big as the wheel of a truck?
✓ Answer
The BFG by Roald Dahl
Sophie's kind captor has enormous ears that he can swivel in and out at will. He's proud of them because they let him hear footsteps of ladybugs and music from the stars. Sophie soon finds them charming rather than strange.
- First half
In what book does a man-eater pretend to be a tree in a park to grab picnicking families?
✓ Answer
The BFG by Roald Dahl
The Meatdripping brute disguises himself as a tree in the park by holding huge branches over his head. He waits for happy families to spread out a picnic underneath, then makes the picnic his own. It's one of the most chilling details in the book.
- First half
In what book is there a misty grey land where dreams are caught with a net?
✓ Answer
The BFG by Roald Dahl
Dream Country is a cold, flat, grey-and-white place full of swirling vapors and ashy grey grass. There are no living creatures and no sound at all. Sophie watches her friend swivel his huge ears, listening for the tiny buzz of an invisible dream.
- Second half
In what book does a stranger in a black cloak leap clear over Hyde Park Corner in one jump?
✓ Answer
The BFG by Roald Dahl
Sophie tells him to clear the great stone arch and statue of horse and rider in one jump and land on the far pavement. He calls it a snitchy little jump and pulls it off.
- Second half
In what book does a Queen wake from a nightmare to read newspaper headlines about children vanishing from boarding schools?
✓ Answer
The BFG by Roald Dahl
Mary hands her the morning paper showing eighteen girls vanished from Roedean and fourteen boys from Eton, with bones found beneath dormitory windows. The Queen realizes her dream was no ordinary nightmare.
- Near the end
In what book is a breakfast chair built by stacking a chest-of-drawers on top of a grand piano?
✓ Answer
The BFG by Roald Dahl
Mr Tibbs the butler calculates that everything for the tall guest must be multiplied by four. The piano-and-chest combo sits eight feet off the ground in the Great Ballroom.
