Module 13- Giants Beware

Module 13- Giants Beware

Summary

Claudette is a giant slayer. Claudette and friends set off on an adventure to find a giant and slay before their parents stop them.

Reference of Book

Aguirre, J., & Rosado, R. (2012). Giants beware! New York: First Second.

Impression

Great story! It has bullies and heroes. The characters grew and changed in the story.  Claudette did not let the bullies bother her or her friends. She kept her focus and knew what she wanted to do. Once she got found the giant, he was not what was said about him. I did not like reading the graphic novel format.  

Professional Reviews

Between “The Hunger Games” and Pixar’s forthcoming “Brave,” which will feature the animation studio’s first female protagonist, fierce and feisty heroines are all the rage.

In “Giants Beware!,” written by Jorge Aguirre and illustrated by Rafael Rosado, the heroine in question is Claudette, a khaki-robed, redheaded, self-proclaimed “giant slayer.” Claudette may be undersize, hotheaded and prone to violence and lock-picking, but she’s also loyal, brave and ambitious.

Claudette has two sidekicks: Marie, an aspiring princess, and Gaston, Claudette’s fearful little brother, whom she lightly cons (her fingers are crossed) into joining her on a mission to kill the local baby-feet-eating giant by promising princesshood to one and sword-making lessons to the other.

The story, with its riffs on fairy tales and quest narratives, offers just the right balance of familiarity and originality, with plenty of humorous asides. Valiant, a terrorizing pug, treats the marquis’s castle like a toilet. Claudette suspends a town bully by his underwear, and there is an abundance of slapstick. Stinky feet figure in the story too. But this is also the kind of story in which even aspiring princesses who obsess over hem length are outraged by the improper use of prepositions.

Paul, P. (2012). Girl Gets the Giant [Review of the book Giants Beware!, by J. Aguirre]. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com

Librarian Use

This book could be used to introduce children to graphic novels. Use in a display of books that show girls as brave and heroic.