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3.96 AVERAGE
3.96 AVERAGE
Sosado’s art that Booklist praises as both “manga-inspired” and having “distinctive characteristics of Charles Schulz” along with Aguirre’s classic storyline of a hero on a quest, combine in fairy tale that School Library Journal calls “ a fine balance between being action-and friendship-driven”. Claudette, who Publisher’s Weekly calls “delightfully spunky” fights evil with swordplay, and aspiring princess, Marie uses cleverness. Claudette’s brother, Gaston dreams of becoming a pastry chef/swordsmith. Children, therefore, will identify with the characters regardless of their gender and how they choose to express it. Jokes both low (Claudette owes some narrow escapes to the stench of her feet), high (Marie remarks that the Forest of Death could use a new publicist) and in between, will appeal to readers of various ages. Fantasy fans as well as voracious graphic novel readers aged eight and up will all find something to enjoy, although an unexplained backstory may leave them craving a sequel.
Cute, though not as empowering as I was hoping from a female-centric giant slayer story. (Let's just say I knew without having to check that the writer are artist were both males.)
Grades 3-5
Claudette, a spunky medieval girl with her heart set on giant-slaying, encounters some difficulty doing so because she is a girl. Accompanied by her cowardly brother, Gaston, and Marie, Claudette's polar opposite, determined Claudette sets out to slay a giant. Giants beware? More like anyone-who-crosses-the-main-character-Claudette Beware!
An action-packed graphic novel for adventure-lovers, Giants Beware! introduces a powerful main character and expertly blends comedy with fantasy.
Claudette, a spunky medieval girl with her heart set on giant-slaying, encounters some difficulty doing so because she is a girl. Accompanied by her cowardly brother, Gaston, and Marie, Claudette's polar opposite, determined Claudette sets out to slay a giant. Giants beware? More like anyone-who-crosses-the-main-character-Claudette Beware!
An action-packed graphic novel for adventure-lovers, Giants Beware! introduces a powerful main character and expertly blends comedy with fantasy.
Everything everyone else has said about how great this book is. But what I'm REALLY looking forward to is having a discussion with kids about the ending. That last page threw me for a loop.
Do you think this is too long to read aloud with the document camera?
Summer 2012 #bookaday #18
Do you think this is too long to read aloud with the document camera?
Summer 2012 #bookaday #18
About the fare of a typical Saturday morning cartoon from back in the day. Somehow, stretching it into a full length graphic novel really, really works for it though. I think maybe the lack of annoying voice actors and time to polish the jokes so they're not stupid really elevates it. There's always something charming about the old trope where the adults are idiots and the kids just seem to get it-though here they're kind of idiots too, but you love them anyway.
Giants Beware will surely be a winner with its intended audience. A Bluebonnet listed book for 2013-2014 in Texas, I picked this one up in order to book talk it to my students. I read it. I book talked it to encourage them to read the minimum five titles by January in order to vote for their favorite Bluebonnet. But would I give it two thumbs up? No.
Super cute middle grade graphic novel. Unlikely group of village kids goes on a quest to kill a giant who has scared the town for years. Claudette is a rough and tumble girl who cares for her friends and is the leader of her crew. Her little brother and girly friend who longs to be a princess accompany her on the quest to vanquish the giant. Shenanigans ensue and they return to the town victorious!
Chyba dałam sobie challenge polegający na przeczytaniu wszystkich komiksów jakie mam w pracy XD Nie żebym miała ich jakoś dużo, ale trochę jest. Dzięki temu odkryłam całkiem fajną serię przygodową z bohaterką, która na początku wzięłam za chłopaka, chyba przez jej krótkie włosy. Jeśli ktoś lubi Hildę to jak najbardziej polecam sięgnięcie po serię z Claudette. Obie dziewczyny są nieustraszonymi poszukiwaczkami przygód, wymykającymi się ustalonym zasadom i normom, tutaj głównie dobrego wychowania i tego co wypada a co nie dziewczynkom. No i mają oczywiście oddanych towarzyszy przygód. Lekkie, wciągające, w sam raz na lato.
Claudette is OBSESSED with killing the giant that use to terrorize her town. Once she loops her friend, Marie, and her brother, Gaston, into the adventure, they set out for Giant Mountain. Along the way they run into some unforeseen bumps, but find that the monsters that lurk outside of the wall may not be as horrid as their tales make them out to be.
As posted on Outside of a Dog:
I’m a bit of an evangelist for graphic novels in a library. One of my first goals when I was hired as a librarian was to build up my department’s graphic novel section. At the time, it consisted of a handful of superhero books (some Iron Man, Spider-Man and Hulk), a couple of Indiana Jones, quite a few non-fiction graphics (a pretty nice selection, I have to admit), and Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese (my predecessor might not have bought many graphics, but she did buy good ones, I’ll give her that). In the nearly two years I’ve been in my position, I’ve expanded that section by nearly three shelves, filling it with favorites like Babymouse, the Bone series, On the Case with Holmes and Watson and (my personal favorite), Raina Telgemeier’s Smile. This past year I added countless new titles, one of the the best of which is Jorge Aguirre and Rafael Rosado’s Giants Beware! I got such joy from reading this title, I can’t wait to share it with others.
Claudette is not your average young lady. Quite frankly, she’s not your average anything. She’s unruly, occasionally stinky (watch out for her feet!), and dead set on killing her village’s tyrannical baby-feet-eating giant. To aid her on her quest, Claudette enlists the help of her friend Marie, who wishes to be a princess, and her little brother Gaston, who wishes to be a sword making pastry chef. Along the road to the giant’s mountain, the small gang face a cursed Apple Hag, an ornery River King, not to mention hunger and disappointed expectations, all the while half the village and Claudette’s father are on their trail. When the trio finally comes face to face (face to ankle?) with the fearsome giant, they find things are not as they’ve always been told. What will bloodthirsty Claudette do?
Real heroes are rare, because real heroism often involves more than slaying the mighty giant. What Aguirre has done here is create three unique heroes, who find their heroics in different ways. Claudette has nerve, Marie has brains and Gaston has heart. Together they are unstoppable. We also gets shades of heroism in Claudette and Gaston’s father, who has suffered dismemberment from his own adventuring past, but who wastes no time in racing after his children when he believes them to be in danger and in his friend Zubair, who gives Claudette advice and helps in the search. They are both very clever men. Aguirre’s story is full of vim and vigor, adventure and lots of humor. Rosado’s art echoes the story beautifully with excellent characterizations (Gaston in his chef’s hat is a hoot) and landscapes. The adventures on the Mad River are particularly stunning.
Full color graphic novels for kids may not be a dime a dozen, but they are not exactly rare, but ones this good are few and far between. As I said, I’m thrilled to be able to share this with kids, and I would be perfectly content if there were more adventures of Claudette, Marie and Gaston down the road. Hear that, universe?
I’m a bit of an evangelist for graphic novels in a library. One of my first goals when I was hired as a librarian was to build up my department’s graphic novel section. At the time, it consisted of a handful of superhero books (some Iron Man, Spider-Man and Hulk), a couple of Indiana Jones, quite a few non-fiction graphics (a pretty nice selection, I have to admit), and Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese (my predecessor might not have bought many graphics, but she did buy good ones, I’ll give her that). In the nearly two years I’ve been in my position, I’ve expanded that section by nearly three shelves, filling it with favorites like Babymouse, the Bone series, On the Case with Holmes and Watson and (my personal favorite), Raina Telgemeier’s Smile. This past year I added countless new titles, one of the the best of which is Jorge Aguirre and Rafael Rosado’s Giants Beware! I got such joy from reading this title, I can’t wait to share it with others.
Claudette is not your average young lady. Quite frankly, she’s not your average anything. She’s unruly, occasionally stinky (watch out for her feet!), and dead set on killing her village’s tyrannical baby-feet-eating giant. To aid her on her quest, Claudette enlists the help of her friend Marie, who wishes to be a princess, and her little brother Gaston, who wishes to be a sword making pastry chef. Along the road to the giant’s mountain, the small gang face a cursed Apple Hag, an ornery River King, not to mention hunger and disappointed expectations, all the while half the village and Claudette’s father are on their trail. When the trio finally comes face to face (face to ankle?) with the fearsome giant, they find things are not as they’ve always been told. What will bloodthirsty Claudette do?
Real heroes are rare, because real heroism often involves more than slaying the mighty giant. What Aguirre has done here is create three unique heroes, who find their heroics in different ways. Claudette has nerve, Marie has brains and Gaston has heart. Together they are unstoppable. We also gets shades of heroism in Claudette and Gaston’s father, who has suffered dismemberment from his own adventuring past, but who wastes no time in racing after his children when he believes them to be in danger and in his friend Zubair, who gives Claudette advice and helps in the search. They are both very clever men. Aguirre’s story is full of vim and vigor, adventure and lots of humor. Rosado’s art echoes the story beautifully with excellent characterizations (Gaston in his chef’s hat is a hoot) and landscapes. The adventures on the Mad River are particularly stunning.
Full color graphic novels for kids may not be a dime a dozen, but they are not exactly rare, but ones this good are few and far between. As I said, I’m thrilled to be able to share this with kids, and I would be perfectly content if there were more adventures of Claudette, Marie and Gaston down the road. Hear that, universe?