Gentle Giant

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

A powerful folktale about a lonely giant who lives by a beautiful lake. When he saves a girl from drowning, the giant finds the love and courage to save the lake from destruction.

On a small island way out in the middle of a silver lake there once lived a sad young man. He was sad because he had grown up into a giant of a man, very big, very strong and very frightening. Because of this, no one liked to go near him. So his only friends were the wild creatures that lived all around him.

Then one day, he saves a girl from drowning, a girl in a wide-brimmed straw hat. Little does he know how she is going to change his life forever.

Michael Morpurgo draws on traditional storytelling to weave a tale of extraordinary relevance to our own world today. A story of compassion, and love, and a simple belief in the healing powers of nature.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

In a disappointing effort, a distinguished British team turns out a plodding tale about a misunderstood, almost mute giant who saves the town and gets the girl. The cruel villagers call the giant the "Beastman of Ballyloch," even after he saves the lovely Miranda from drowning. But when a stranger talks the villagers into buying his magic stardust to sprinkle on the lake and it becomes covered in green slime, the giant enlists Miranda's help. Consistent with the rest of the dialogue, Miranda's exchange with the villagers is terse: "Do you want to save our beautiful silver lake?" she asks them. "And all our wild creatures?" Like vaudeville shills, the villagers immediately cry, "Yes!" Foreman's illustrations are suitably idyllic, although the lake, invariably described as "silver," is always blue in the artwork. Both art and text contribute to a sappy ending. While the giant murmurs the name of his sweetheart (he leaves out one syllable, saying "You are my Manda.... My Manda"), two swans curve their necks to form a picture-frame heart around them. The clear messages about tolerating individuality and safeguarding the environment notwithstanding, the stock characters and clich?s add up to a story that, even by fairy tale standards, is hard to believe. Ages 4-8. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

School Library Journal Review

K-Gr 4-In true fairy-tale fashion replete with drama, romance, and redemption, a master storyteller conveys a timely (and timeless), compelling message about the frightening fragility of our environment, the awesome and restorative powers of nature, and the often-unconsidered consequences of an all-too-pervasive, superficial, "gotta-have-it-now" mentality. Lonely, unloved, and misunderstood, the gentle Beastman of Ballyloch lives alone on an island in his beloved silver lake, in harmony with the birds and animals, but reviled by the human inhabitants of the town, where he toils each day thatching houses, barns, and hayricks. As is so often the case in tales of this type, what lies beneath the sad young man's off-putting exterior is a person who is fine and untouched by anger or resentment. A brave and selfless act of kindness is the catalyst for a friendship, and this, coupled with his imposed intimacy with simple, natural elements, supplies the quiet Beastman with the information and intuition necessary to remedy an ecological upset that threatens the survival of all of Ballyloch. Foreman's pebbled watercolor-and-pencil pictures are jewel toned and as gentle and touching as the story itself, and their composition hints at the possibilities of reaching beyond boundaries-physical or figurative. This is an unassuming story with a powerful punch and a resonant reminder: "There's truth in every fairy tale."-Kathy Krasniewicz, Perrot Library, Old Greenwich, CT (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Booklist Review

K-Gr. 3. Morpurgo and Foreman collaborate in this fairy tale with an ecotwist. A young man lives by himself on an island, making his living by repairing the thatched roofs of the cottages across the lake. He's a "Beastman," an ungainly giant who never learned to speak, and the villagers taunt him by calling him "Mr. Ugly." His loneliness ends after he rescues a beautiful young woman whose boat has capsized. A man-made disaster follows, brought on by a huckster who sells the villagers a potion to get more fish from the lake. The potion turns the lake a sickly green, killing the fish and choking the Beastman's beloved swans. The giant again comes to the rescue, saving the lake through an act both ingenious and kind. Foreman's paintings convey the emotions as well as the movement of the story: cold blues surround the isolated giant; vibrant golds frame the giant and his love. Kids may recognize allusions to other fairy tales they know as they enjoy this story about the transforming power of kindness. --Connie Fletcher Copyright 2004 Booklist