4.23 avg rating — 537,295 ratings

"The BFG is not my absolute favorite book of all time (though it's always been among my favorites). But, this book is pure escape fantasy for children, so it absolutely MUST be high on this list. (Mild spoilers ahead)

An orphan girl is whisked away from her dreary existence by a lovable giant, who is silly and kind. Together, they have adventures (including literally collecting dreams), meet the Queen of England, and foil the plans of the villains. And ultimately, the girl and the giant see in each other the family they never had before.

This book is silly, sometimes icky, and wonderfully whimsical (I resisted the temptation to make up a word like Roald Dahl would have). It has rhymes, fantasy, and did I mention it's silly?

Nothing ever written is a more perfect example of how to write FOR kids...except maybe James and the Giant Peach (also by Roald Dahl, of course)."

4.04 avg rating — 525,308 ratings

"James and the Giant Peach is not my absolute favorite book of all time (though it's always been among my favorites). But, this book is pure escape fantasy for children, so it absolutely MUST be high on this list. (Mild spoilers ahead)

Imagine if everything good about your life was ripped away -- including your family. Now imagine if your new life was dismal, dreary, grey misery. It involved hard work, terrible living conditions, and no love at all.

Then, one day, you get a foolish ray of hope, only to have it disappear. However, something replaces it. One tiny, glowing ember of beauty. Now imagine if this one tiny beautiful thing in your otherwise grim life could grow. Imagine this one beautiful thing growing to enormous proportions, until it shoved aside everything bad in your life, and took you away to someplace wonderful -- and gave you the greatest, strangest, silliest adventures along the way.

THAT is the story of James and the Giant Peach.

Nothing ever written is a more perfect example of how to write FOR kids...except maybe The BFG (also by Roald Dahl, of course)."

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