ARE ALL THE GIANTS DEAD?

by Mary Norton ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1975

The title question, from an ""old poem,"" is asked here of Mildred, James' guide in fairy tale land, by elderly Belle, the former Sleeping Beauty now living on with Boofy and Beau (Beauty and the Beast) and Pumpkin (guess who) in the state of Happily Ever After. The answer turns out to be no, as James discovers when Mildred takes him to the Inn of the Two Jacks--one of beanstalk fame, the other the giant killer who, it seems, has one more giant left to kill. And that one of course is precisely the ogre that James must face in his attempt to help Princess Dulcibel avoid her scheduled marriage to a frog. It all sounds a bit coy but Norton (who earned her prominence in children's literature with the more original Bedknob and Broomstick and Borrowers books) nicely fills in the spaces between folklore and ""modern"" fantasy, making this juvenile version of literary game-playing an entertaining page-turner.

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1975

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 124

Publisher: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1975

Categories: FICTION