The BFG

Another Dahl classic pairing a small, overlooked child against grotesque adults — readers who loved Sophie's quiet bravery will feel right at home.

If you loved The BFG by Roald Dahl, Matilda is the natural next read. Like Sophie, Matilda is a small, sharp girl living under the thumb of adults who underestimate her — and like the BFG, the story balances genuine menace with laugh-out-loud dark comedy. Matilda's nemesis Miss Trunchbull is every bit as outsized and threatening as Dahl's man-eating giants, yet the tone stays playful enough for readers aged seven and up. Both books share Dahl's signature Gobblefunk-adjacent wordplay, a warm child-adult friendship at the centre, and an ending that feels satisfying without being saccharine. Perfect for any reader searching for books like The BFG or wondering what to read after The BFG — this one delivers the same imaginative energy in a completely different setting.

Dahl's most iconic invention-filled world pairs a kind, ordinary child with an eccentric larger-than-life adult — the same heart as The BFG, with added surreal wonder.

Readers who fell for the odd-couple friendship between Sophie and the BFG will find a close cousin in Charlie Bucket and Willy Wonka. Both stories hinge on a gentle, overlooked child being invited into a secret world that adults cannot fully understand, and both are powered by Dahl's love of invented language, impossible inventions, and villains who get their just deserts in darkly comic ways. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory predates The BFG by nearly two decades but shares the same moral compass: kindness and imagination beat cruelty every time. If you're looking for books like The BFG by Roald Dahl for a child aged seven to ten, this is the essential companion — equally strong as a read-aloud and just as rewatchable on the imagination's inner screen.

A boy discovers a strange, fragile creature hiding in a garage — the same unexpected friendship across a vast difference in size and world that drives The BFG.

Skellig is one of the most talked-about recommendations for readers asking what to read after The BFG. Like Sophie's first encounter with the BFG, ten-year-old Michael's discovery of a hunched, owl-eating figure in his dilapidated garage is frightening before it becomes tender. Both stories centre on a child who keeps a secret, nurtures a being the adult world would never understand, and is changed by the friendship. Where The BFG is bright and comic, Skellig runs quieter and more melancholy — making it an ideal next step for readers ready to go a little deeper emotionally while staying within the same middle-grade range. David Almond won the Carnegie Medal for this book, and it remains a classroom favourite across the UK for ages nine to twelve. A great pick for anyone searching for books like The BFG with more emotional weight.

An unlikely cross-species friendship built on loyalty and quiet heroism — the same emotional core as Sophie and the BFG, with a barnyard setting and unforgettable characters.

Charlotte's Web is a perennial answer to the question of what to read after The BFG because both books rest on the same foundation: a friendship between two beings who have no obvious reason to trust each other, yet do. Wilbur the pig and Charlotte the spider echo Sophie and the BFG — one small and vulnerable, the other capable of something extraordinary. E. B. White's prose is gentle where Dahl's is anarchic, but the emotional stakes feel just as real, and the themes of loyalty, mortality handled lightly, and the power of words are deeply shared. This is a particularly strong recommendation for readers aged seven to ten who responded to the warmth in The BFG and are ready for a story that earns its emotional ending honestly. A Newbery Honor classic that holds up across generations.

A secret world of mythical creatures, a child protagonist pulled into dangerous magic, and writing full of invention — a modern heir to the BFG's spirit of wonder.

Katherine Rundell's Impossible Creatures is one of the most exciting recent answers to books like The BFG by Roald Dahl. Eleven-year-old Kit discovers a hidden archipelago where every creature from mythology still lives — and promptly has to help save it. Like The BFG's Giant Country, the world here is vast, dangerous, and governed by rules that only a child seems willing to question. Rundell writes with the same delight in language and the same conviction that children are braver and more morally serious than adults give them credit for. Where Dahl plays the danger for dark laughs, Rundell leans into genuine adventure-thriller pacing, making this a natural next step for BFG fans who are ready for slightly higher stakes. Ideal for readers aged eight to twelve searching for imaginative middle-grade fantasy after finishing The BFG.

A child forms a deep bond with someone who exists outside ordinary time and rules — the same sense of a private, magical world shared between two unlikely friends.

Tom's Midnight Garden is a classic British children's novel that shares The BFG's core magic: a child slipping into a world that shouldn't exist and forming a friendship that adults cannot see or explain. Tom, sent to stay with his aunt and uncle while his brother recovers from measles, discovers a Victorian garden that appears only at midnight, and there meets Hatty — a girl from another era. The novel's quiet, dreamy atmosphere contrasts with Dahl's boisterousness, but both books centre on the transformative power of a friendship that crosses what seems like an impossible divide. For readers who loved the private, secret-keeping quality of Sophie and the BFG's late-night adventures and are looking for books like The BFG that feel more grounded and literary, this Carnegie Medal winner is the perfect recommendation.