THE GIANT OF SEVILLE

Based on a real circus giant who lived in the 1800s, Andreasen’s story stands tall in every way—from page size to the outsized images of the towering man. Life is so quiet in Seville, Ohio, that you can hear the corn grow. Then a stranger comes to town. The giant of a man is so big that his head and shoulders stick out the window of the train. At seven feet, 11-and-a-half inches, Captain Bates is looking for a quiet home for himself and his wife (who is eight feet tall). The townsfolk want to make the giant feel at home, but the boardinghouse bed is too short, it takes four gallons of pancake batter to fill him up, and when he dances a jig at the square dance, he crashes through the floor. Captain Bates seems too big for Seville after all, but the townspeople come up with a tall solution. Cunning homespun illustrations effectively convey size contrasts of people and situations; scratchboard-like lines add dimension as bordered full-page art and opposite text heighten the spare narrative. A clever blend of tall-tale telling, historical anecdote and giant-sized appeal that truly measures up. (author’s note) (Picture book. 4-8)