Giant Giant

A little blue village where people “always helped each other, always smiled, and were always nice” has a literal giant problem in this enthusiastic picture book. A bossy orange giant stomps around the village making demands (“Wash my underwear NOW! Or I’ll stomp on this little house!”) and often causing damage “just for fun.” But the tables turn when a bigger, bossier, bright pink “giant giant” appears and threatens the now “little giant” in the very same way. Despondent and chastened, the smaller figure joins forces with the villagers to give the giant giant a comeuppance—and the opportunity to learn that “it’s more fun to have friends than people to stomp on.” Hewitt’s (The Kingdom of Nothing) playful sense of color, line, scale, and typography gives this work a flair reminiscent of midcentury graphic design, with digital art that makes the most of the book’s horizontal format and exudes a poster-like punch: in one spread, the giant giant’s menacing, pointing pink hand extends across the bright yellow background as text reads across each knuckle. The anti-bullying lesson is a familiar one, but it’s delivered with plenty of visual verve. Ages 3–7. (Mar.)