I AM A GIANT

The 'T' of the story, a cartoon of mauvey pink skin, Orphan Annie eyes, monkey grin and Raggedy Ann mop, is glimpsed just once in an oversized straight chair, looking for all the world like Lily Tomlin's Edith Ann; elsewhere though, she towers over her parents (Mother stands on top of one of her hiking shoe to tie it), fills the second floor of the family's house, and has to take care not to step on. cars as she walks down the street. ""Little children eat broccoli: I eat apple trees,"" the giant begins, and we see her at a dinner table where an upright stalk is being chopped with an ax, felled ones are piled onto a truck, and a moose and a bear peep out from behind others. Unfortunately none of the subsequent conceits (""they have to milk 13 cows to fill my cup,"" ""my mother has to empty a whole ocean to give me my bath,"" ""I brush my teeth with a big broom"") quite come up to that inspired opening, and it's interesting to read on the back cover that the broccoli part was an idea of the author's small daughter and the start of the whole project. Nevertheless this could function as a loosening up exercise to nudge readers' imaginations into their own giant games.