Giant Giant

by Dylan Hewitt

Overview

A humorous and eventful story that shows both the negative effects of bullying and the importance of being kind

Every day, a giant spreads terror among the villagers of a peaceful town. He commands them to wash his underwear and to cook large feasts for him, or else he will stomp on the entire village! This demanding giant does not seem to have a worry in the world. But his misfortune is about to strike, as a giant even more gigantic than him is about to take over.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781990252082
Publisher:	ABRAMS
Publication date:	05/03/2022
Pages:	74
Product dimensions:	8.25(w) x 11.25(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

Dylan Hewitt was born and raised in London, England, where he still lives today. He studied for his BA degree in graphic design at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts, London. From there, he dived into a life of art direction in the advertising world, developing campaigns in every medium. Behind closed doors, Hewitt is busy creating children’s books. His biggest takeaway from advertising has been that the idea is king, and he likes his ideas to have humor, charm, warmth, and a spot of the surreal, just like him.

Editorial Reviews

01/24/2022

A little blue village where people “always helped each other, always smiled, and were always nice” has a literal giant problem in this enthusiastic picture book. A bossy orange giant stomps around the village making demands (“Wash my underwear NOW! Or I’ll stomp on this little house!”) and often causing damage “just for fun.” But the tables turn when a bigger, bossier, bright pink “giant giant” appears and threatens the now “little giant” in the very same way. Despondent and chastened, the smaller figure joins forces with the villagers to give the giant giant a comeuppance—and the opportunity to learn that “it’s more fun to have friends than people to stomp on.” Hewitt’s (The Kingdom of Nothing) playful sense of color, line, scale, and typography gives this work a flair reminiscent of midcentury graphic design, with digital art that makes the most of the book’s horizontal format and exudes a poster-like punch: in one spread, the giant giant’s menacing, pointing pink hand extends across the bright yellow background as text reads across each knuckle. The anti-bullying lesson is a familiar one, but it’s delivered with plenty of visual verve. Ages 3–7. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

Hewitt’s (The Kingdom of Nothing) playful sense of color, line, scale, and typography gives this work a flair reminiscent of midcentury graphic design . . The anti-bullying lesson is delivered with plenty of visual verve.—Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

03/01/2022

K-Gr 2—This quirky but straightforward story presents a playful, literal representation of what it means when a bully "steps all over" others, and the positive change a hand extended in friendship can inspire. The story introduces a small village where a giant orange boy makes regular visits to demand treats and to crush the terrified blue villagers' homes for fun. Trouble arrives at the giant's own door, however, when a pink "giant giant," in the form of a heavily mustached man, arrives to threaten and bully him. The fact that the "giant giant" is an adult, rather than another kid, may affect how the readers connect with the story. By working together, the giant boy and the kind villagers stop the "giant giant" in a trap and share their lesson of kindness with him. While there are terms such as brat and bully that should be discussed with an adult, young listeners will easily recognize when the giants finally learn that no one deserves to be belittled. In Hewitt's cartoonlike digital illustrations, dimension is used to great advantage to distinguish the characters, with coordinated font sizes to depict spoken or shouted dialogue in bold, black text. Set against an entirely yellow background, characters and small setting details are composed of simple shapes of few solid color hues, specifically light blue, orange, and hot pink. All are overlaid with black ink line details to suggest stylized forms, movements, and expressions, though also eccentric, old-fashioned dress. VERDICT A plainspoken tale of the relativity of size and power, this belongs on SEL shelves.—Rachel Mulligan

School Library Journal