On my last trip to Cover to Cover Sally handed me a copy of Giants Beware by Rafael Rosado and Jorge Aguirre. She'll be participating in the publicity of this new graphic novel and wanted to know what I think.
I think I like it! The heroine in the story is Claudette, a tom boy who dreams of nothing more than slaying giants. She is tired of the town historians telling the story of the battle against the Baby-Feet Eating Giant and how he got away. Claudette is tired of living in a town that lives in fear of the beast and wants to find him and slay him. Adding fuel to her fire is the fact that her father, the famous sword maker, was maimed by a giant during his giant hunting days. She wants to continue the family tradition, hunt down this gruesome beast and kill him once and for all.
The scrappy Claudette enlists the help of her friend Marie, a wannabe princess and her brother Gaston, a wannabe pastry chef/sword maker. The three of them set off with Claudette's dog, Valient, on an adventure that takes them through the Forrest of Death where they encounter an old crone who used to be the Maiden of the Forrest. Then they come to the Mad River where they meet the Mad River King and his son the fish face. Throughout all of the adventures humor prevails. When they finally meet the giant the fun doesn't stop and with the help of some "magic" berries they conquer him too.
While I'm not a huge fan of the graphic novel genre, I know a lot of my students are so I'm always on the look out for some good stuff to add to our collection. I'll be adding this one and telling Sally I like it a lot!
Thanks for writing about Giants Beware. I'm always on the lookout for graphic novels for my classroom library. This one is sure to be a hit. I just read the book and will probably read it again before summer is up.
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