BIG GEORGE

Employing devices usually reserved for soap operas, first-timer Pringle tells the tale of a giant from outer space and how he saves the damsel Tilly from an unwelcome marriage. The giant Big George crashes his spaceship, smacks his head, loses his memory, and has an adventure in tenth-century England, only to fall into a 900-year nap at the end. Tilly befriends the giant, whom she calls a grolyhoomp, even though they have no common language. She can miraculously see past his enormous body, protruding neck, and glowing face and into his kind heart. Tilly’s father cares only about money and is willing to sell his own daughter to the revolting Baron Grimshanks Lousewort to marry his dragon-breathed son, Bones. The final battle scene is where Pringle pulls out all the stops. Big George, after feasting on a meal intended to kill him, becomes filled with “billowing poisonous gas.” It is then expelled in one dramatic moment. In case the reader misunderstood what has transpired, Pringle reiterates, “A grolyhoomp passing wind is an awesome thing.” Paine’s pen-and-ink illustrations, reminiscent of Quentin Blake’s style, cannot save this tale, but they do add a humorous touch. (Fiction. 8-12)