The Giants' Farm

The Giants' Farm

Jane Yolen

pictures by Tomie de Paola 1977

Here's another "blast from the past" for me, a Weekly Reader book illustrated by Tomie de Paola.  These were my bread and butter in elementary school.  How nostalgic de Paola's pictures are!

This cute easy reader follows a group of giants in a series of short stories.  The talented Yolen gives the stories substance and is what makes these vintage easy readers so much richer than some of the bland modern books I see today.  The stories are simple (the twin giants, Grab and Grub, have a secret and smart giant Dab predictably gets it out of them, or big Grizzle is sad and upset about being the biggest until Dab needs his help with a big problem).  Jane Yolen's writing goes to show that these kinds of books can be well written and enjoyable. 

One flake. 
Two flakes.
It kept on snowing.
Little Dab thought about dreaming.  He thought about eating.  He thought about rhymes.  He thought about sleeping and filling and telling. He thought and thought about making something from nothing.

Diane Goode's Book of Giants and Little People

I found this post that I had written but never published from a couple of years ago.  Madeleine is no longer in school (she's working now) and Charlotte and my days are a bit busier than just hammock lounging!  But it's still true about the bookshop!

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Such fine, fine weather we've been having!  This is the season of fresh cherries, sheets on the line and cut flowers lining the windowsills.  Madeleine often comes home from school to find Charlotte and I laying on the hammock with a scattering of books around us.  More often than not she joins us there beneath the trees and reads through the picture books too.

One of our very favorite things to do is go to the used bookshop.  The books are so cheap, we usually come home with a box or two and promptly bring them outside, where we sort through and read them.  The kids like to spread a blanket and picnic with snacks and lemonade.  It really is the best way to spend a shady afternoon.

Diane Goode's Book of Giants and Little People

Diane Goode 1997

This book, a collection of stories and a few poems was a recent companion in our backyard. There's some familiar stories like "The Shoemaker and the Elves" and some from other countries. Madeleine told me she really enjoyed the last one "Wiley and the Hairy Man", of African-American origin.  Plus I've always liked Diane Goode's pictures.  (This is a nice companion to Goode's book of Silly Stories).

The Land of Giants

 Beautiful intricate drawings accompany this story about a determined Victorian adventurer who finds a land of Giants.  As he lives with the giants he learns so much more than he anticipated and a hard lesson on his return home to scientific fame and glory.

The Last Giants  

 Francois Place 1993

 

Walter the Giant Storyteller's Giant Book of Giant Stories

 When a genial giant finds himself captured a la Guliver's Travels, he has to use his storytelling skill to convince everyone that he's harmless.  It's a fun take on some well known tales and legends with various styled illustrations.  

Walter the Giant Storyteller's Giant Book of Giant Stories

Walter M. Mays 

illustrated by Kevin O'Malley 2005