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katykelly's review against another edition
5.0
Wordplay abounds in an enjoyable story of giants and 'little people' - us!
After so many of her picture books, I was curious to see Julia Donaldson's skill at, not only prose, but a book for older children.
You are unlikely to recognise her trademark style here, a prose story about giants and humans, but the usual readability is there, and her way with words.
A young giant, Jumbeelia, believes her mother's stories about little people (iggly plops) and, as a collector, determines to go out and find some and add them to her collections. Managing to grow and climb down a beanstalk, she comes across the Jones children, a brother and two sisters. They suddenly find themselves in a sack with a sheep and sit-on lawn mower and on the move...
And so here starts the story of their escape and their adventures in the giant world. It's a great reversal story for children, seeing themselves as the toy, the plaything, the tiny object.
I loved the giant language, many words of which you can see roots of in English. Thank goodness for the glossary!! There are two actually, one English-Giant (not sure why - for fun after reading?) and the other Giant-English, which I had bookmarked as I went along!
A great little adventure story, not too long and with a lot of chapters. Could be read to younger children but the wordplay will appeal most to the 8 and above age range.
Definitely one to try if you have a fan of Donaldson now grown out of picture books, a fan of fairy tales that are a little different, or just someone in need of an appealing story. Gender neutral, with strong central characters of both sexes.
I'd like this to be used as a class reader, it would form a brilliant basis for creative writing in giant language, and lots of word games and imaginative tasks based on the giant world.
After so many of her picture books, I was curious to see Julia Donaldson's skill at, not only prose, but a book for older children.
You are unlikely to recognise her trademark style here, a prose story about giants and humans, but the usual readability is there, and her way with words.
A young giant, Jumbeelia, believes her mother's stories about little people (iggly plops) and, as a collector, determines to go out and find some and add them to her collections. Managing to grow and climb down a beanstalk, she comes across the Jones children, a brother and two sisters. They suddenly find themselves in a sack with a sheep and sit-on lawn mower and on the move...
And so here starts the story of their escape and their adventures in the giant world. It's a great reversal story for children, seeing themselves as the toy, the plaything, the tiny object.
I loved the giant language, many words of which you can see roots of in English. Thank goodness for the glossary!! There are two actually, one English-Giant (not sure why - for fun after reading?) and the other Giant-English, which I had bookmarked as I went along!
A great little adventure story, not too long and with a lot of chapters. Could be read to younger children but the wordplay will appeal most to the 8 and above age range.
Definitely one to try if you have a fan of Donaldson now grown out of picture books, a fan of fairy tales that are a little different, or just someone in need of an appealing story. Gender neutral, with strong central characters of both sexes.
I'd like this to be used as a class reader, it would form a brilliant basis for creative writing in giant language, and lots of word games and imaginative tasks based on the giant world.
sanjastajdohar's review against another edition
4.0
Quirky, weird and funny, also disturbing sometimes. A great way to show the kids not to be cruel to smaller beings.
cleverruhs's review against another edition
4.0
I actually read this book to a bunch of lower elementary students, and they not only thoroughly loved the characters, but they loved learning and speaking the Groilish language that the giants use. All hail the iggly blebber!
bethkemp's review against another edition
4.0
This is not a gentle bedtime story. Rather, it is an exciting adventure with violence (almost) worthy of the Grimms. I read it with my (then) 7 year old and there were gasps and tears in a couple of places, and I was a bit surprised at some of the peril the human children found themselves in as toys of the giant girl Jumbelia. This is not to say that it's inherently a problem, but it is perhaps better as a shared read for younger or more sensitive readers. To be honest, it's probably more of a statement about how sanitised many kids' stories have become, and it's certainly true that the violence in this story is easily matched by many cartoons, but somehow it is more surprising enacted on human characters in a book.
The story features an invented language for the giants, with a glossary at the back. (Although for us, reading on a Kindle, we didn't really see this until the end.) Most of the words are guessable in context anyway, and when there are whole songs or sayings in the giant language, the English translation is given in the main text. This language is fun, playful and inventive, and I'm sure most child readers will bring some of the giants' words into their play as my daughter did.
For all the excitement and adventure, there is a moral core to this story which encourages children to think before making pets or toys of wild creatures. Children will not experience this as moralising, but they will absorb the messages about how the children are treated by Jumbelia, who doesn't mean them any harm, but also doesn't quite see them as living creatures who can be hurt.
Overall, I'd recommend this for fans of Donaldson's picture books who are ready to move onto chapter books at bedtime. For the more delicate among them, though, her Princess Mirror-Belle adventures might be more suitable.
The story features an invented language for the giants, with a glossary at the back. (Although for us, reading on a Kindle, we didn't really see this until the end.) Most of the words are guessable in context anyway, and when there are whole songs or sayings in the giant language, the English translation is given in the main text. This language is fun, playful and inventive, and I'm sure most child readers will bring some of the giants' words into their play as my daughter did.
For all the excitement and adventure, there is a moral core to this story which encourages children to think before making pets or toys of wild creatures. Children will not experience this as moralising, but they will absorb the messages about how the children are treated by Jumbelia, who doesn't mean them any harm, but also doesn't quite see them as living creatures who can be hurt.
Overall, I'd recommend this for fans of Donaldson's picture books who are ready to move onto chapter books at bedtime. For the more delicate among them, though, her Princess Mirror-Belle adventures might be more suitable.
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