The BFG by Roald Dahl

"The Big Friendly-Giant picked Sophie off the table and carried her to the cave entrance. He rolled the huge stone to one side and said, 'Peep out over there little girl, and tell me what you is seeing.'" 

The BFG's protagonist, Sophie, peered out of the window and discovered tall, dark, and gruesome beasts that prey upon the bones of peoples from all over the world. Roald Dahl created Sophie to be an eight-year-old orphaned girl who awakes one evening to giants scurrying through the night. Fortunately for Sophie, the giant that picks her from her slumber happens to be the one giant who desists from eating children. The BFG is the runt of the pack of giants, and immediately befriends the young girl. As soon as Sophie discovers the menacing traits of the other giants, she is appalled by their violence. The reader quickly discovers that the BFG captures dreams from children all over the world. He uses these dreams out of the kindness of his heart to promote his love for all creatures. The plot frantically evolves as Sophie plots to end the giants reign of terror on the world. The plan devised is to travel all the way to London and meet the Queen. After impregnating the Queen with a carefully concocted dream, she will awake to discover the plea of a young girl with her giant friend. The end of Dahl's tale closes as the Queen and the Royal Air Force take their battle to the sleeping giants, seeking peace amidst the global unrest. The infectious bond between the young girl and the gentle giant is persuasive to the Queen's wishes, and justice is finally serviced to the wrong-doers. 

A wonderfully written tale of an unimaginable friendship, The BFG documents the larger than life story of an orphaned girl with a beautiful heart. The beast of the tale, measuring 24 feet tall, is just as sweet as Sophie. Their partnership is at first a tense bond. The BFG tells Sophie that she will never be able to return to her home, for fear that the girl will expose him. Even more frightening, Sophie believes that she may be gobbled up at any moment by the larger giants that can hear the slightest murmur of a human heartbeat. I was very tense during the quiet moments in the giant's house when the larger giants were searching the space for the existence of human flesh. Dahl is not afraid of painting a gruesome picture of this fictional world for his reader. The world of the giants is far from a fairy-tale land with poppies and lush fields of green. I was taken aback by the nasty descriptions of the beasts that Dahl eloquently described as being a part of the giant community. I found the investigations of the dream jars to be one of my favorite scenes from the book. Dahl's imagination runs wild with vivid descriptions of dreams intended for boys. I identified immediately with the dream of turning invisible. I had many dreams as a child that involved this super ability. I also thoroughly enjoyed the description of the Queen's reception breakfast for the girl and giant. The humorously put together furniture intended to accommodate the giant was a fun picture. The business of the Queen's headquarters, along with the journey in London, is definitely written by an author who has spent some time in the English city. I think that The BFG is an appropriate story for any reader who is willing to take the plunge into a fantasy world. Although the characters of Dahl's story exist in an unreal setting, the humanistic characteristics of the protagonists are relatable to the conditions of all of our lives. The evils of the world need not remain hidden behind fear. Real life heroes, if they find the right courage, can bring attention to even the Queen of England for assistance. 

Check out the Dahl museum next time you are in England: http://www.roalddahlmuseum.org/

"The Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman

Illustrated by Dave McKean

Face your life

Its pain, it's pleasure, 

Leave no path untaken

These words mark the beginning of Bod Owens' life amongst the living, and the close of his childhood in a solemn graveyard. The Graveyard Book is the story of a young boy who, at the age of 2, is orphaned after the tragic murder of his entire family. Narrowly escaping the grips of a man known as Jack, the young boy escapes to a nearby graveyard. He is saved by a dark figure that lacks a shadow. His savior's name is Silas and he was born hundreds of years ago. The boy is adopted by two ghosts named Mr. and Mrs. Owens. Nobody Owens is the name given to the boy for secrecy. 

Neil Gaiman documents the development of Bod Owens from an infant to the age of fifteen. Bod is given the ability to roam freely in the graveyard. His conversations with men and women who died many years ago serve as educational tools. Mrs. Lupescu, Bod's instructor, teaches Bod to Fade, Haunt, Dreamwalk, and open portals to ghoulish dimensions. At the age of 5, Bod befriends a young girl named Scarlett. This friendship is the only living human friendship that Bod discovers in the graveyard, for his other friends are all most surely deceased. One such presence is named Liza, a supposed Witch. Liza was buried in unholy ground for her living actions and lacks a headstone. Eight-year-old Bod believes that she is deserving of such a necessity, and therefore gets into mischief out of the goodness of his heart to give Liza what she has always wanted. As Bod grows, he develops the ability to fade amongst the living and move between objects in the graveyard. This ability proves helpful upon early excursions into the living town nearby. Bod eventually goes to a local school and gains unwanted attention after being bullied. The development of Bod continues as he begins to question the tragedy of his living family. After reuniting with Scarlett, the girl from his youngest memories, the two discover that the house where his family was murdered is located nearby. Scarlett then learns that the adult man who has begun a courtship of her divorced mother may not be who he claims to be. The tale of Bod Owens reaching a gripping conclusion when violence erupts as the men who could not finish the job of killing Bod when he was 2 return to seek closure. Bod's dead friends step in give a helping hand as peril ensues. After the violence is resolved time passes and Bod loses the ability to walk amongst the dead. At the age of 15, Bod must go out into the world and begin life with the living. 

"Bod said, 'If I change my mind can I come back here?' And then he answered his own question. 'If I come back, it will be a place, but it wont be home any longer.'"

Gaiman's The Graveyard Book is an overwhelmingly heartfelt tale of a young boy who is raised by the dead. "The living have the opportunity to change the world," are the encouraging words of Bod's mentors. Bod Owens is a hero because he fights for the opportunity to live a life that was taken from his late family. His relationships with the non-living are incredibly fascinating. Many of the non-living characters in the book bring different historical events to light for the reader. Gaiman includes several characters who use ancient languages and diverse dialects. Worthy of the Newbery award Gaiman won in 2009, The Graveyard Book is excitement from the very beginning. Gaiman's lively tale is so cleverly written amidst the tombs of the long deceased. I was not able to put this book down after I was introduced to the characters. For any child or adult that was once a child, The Graveyard Book is a wonderful treat for this Fall season. 

An insight into the childhood of Neil Gaiman, from his 2009 acceptance speech for the Newbery Medal:

"When I was a boy, from about the ages of eight to fourteen, during my school holidays I used to haunt my local library. It was a mile and a half from my house, so I would get my parents to drop me off on their way to work, and when the library closed I would walk home. I was an awkward child, ill fitting, uncertain, and I loved my local library with a passion...I wanted books and made no distinction between good books or bad, only between the ones I loved, the ones that spoke to my soul, and the ones I liked." 

"Out of the Dust" by Karen Hesse

Scholastic, 1997

"Red's the color I've stayed ever since," proclaims Billy Jo in the opening poem of Karen Hesse's Out of the Dust. Billy Jo is caught in the dust of the Oklahoma panhandle amidst a trying time in our nation's history. The daughter of a farmer, Billy Jo and her mother rely on the success of her father's wheat farm to survive. Rain is sparse for the Joyce City family and dust is described by Hesse as covering everything. Billy Jo's mother is still exemplifies humility in these trying times, telling her daughter to return the two extra pennies that were given as change from a corrupt grocer. The color red appears again when Billy Jo recounts his time in France during the World War. Red poppies were present on the headstones of fallen soldiers, Billy Jo's father tells his family. A terrible accident occurs when Billy Jo accidentally burns her mother. Billy Jo suffers from burns to her hands, while her mother is almost destroyed by fire. The death of her mother and newly born brother create a strong silence in the household of dust between Billy Jo and her father. As time passes and missed opportunities for harvests come and go, Billy Jo's father remains hopeful of success. Billy Jo's once prosperous and lucrative piano playing declines after her hands were badly burned from the accident. The end of the novel tells of Billy Jo's partner in music, Mad Dog, making a new life outside of the dust at a radio station. Billy Jo continues to suffer from guilt and despair over the loss of her mother and brother as her father begins to show signs of skin cancer. An urge to truly breathe outside of the dust provokes Billy Jo to hop on a train and ride away from her old life. Billy Jo returns after the realization that she cannot truly escape and she returns to her father. Her father and Billy Jo begin to speak again when he starts to fall for a new woman. After accepting this new woman, Billy Jo sits down to play the piano again with her healed hands.

Gripping in language and narrative, Hesse crafts the feelings of a young heroine with free verse poetry. The rhythm of verse in Out of the Dust is very captivating. Hesse's story creates a character out of the dust that consumes the lives of Billy Jo's family. A hyperbole of dust, fire takes the lives of Billy Jo's mother and newly born brother, whom she names Franklin. The loss of Ma is definitely one of the novel's greatest tragedies, and this loss influences Billy Jo to contemplate her relationship with her father. I was shaken by the brutal realities faced by an ordinary American family caught in the draught of post-war resources. Truly worthy of the Newbury Medal for Excellence, analyzing such a dense work is daunting. Out of the Dust is an enormously heartfelt story.

Scholastic provides a discussion guide for teaching this novel: http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plan/out-dust-discussion-guide