'The best books, reviewed with insight and charm, but without compromise.'
- author Jackie French

Friday, 11 September 2020

Review: The Stone Giant

Another gorgeous publication from Gecko Press, The Stone Giant is a tale that reflects the determination, cunning and courage of a child to save the person she loves.

Presented as a gift book, its fantastic front and back cover, plus the extraordinary end pages, herald the beautifully told story. 

With stunning illustrations, translated by Julia Marshall and based on a Swedish fairytale by Elsa Beskow, the tale is a winding road the protagonist takes to reach her destination, regardless of the obstacle she encounters along the way.

A knight goes out to fight a giant who has turned everyone and everything into stone.

He must leave behind, alone, his young daughter, with a promise to return.

Time passes, then more time. The child waits with her mirror as company and with which she bids herself goodnight.

Too much time has passed so the girl sets out to find her father. Nothing deters her; not darkness, not the black sea through which she swims, nor the forest through which she travels that leads her to a light, and an old woman living alone.

While the child eats and rests, they talk about her father, and the stone giant.

Leaving the next day with an umbrella given to her by the old woman, the child reaches the ruins created by the stone giant.

Can what she brought with her, and her guile, revive the barren landscape and give back her father?

Title: The Stone Giant
Author/Illustrator: Anna Hoglund
Publisher: Gecko Press, $24.99
Publication Date: 1 July 2020
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 9781776572731
For ages: 5 – 8
Type: Illustrated Junior Fiction