Product Description

A story about a selfish giant who eventually learns to share the pleasures of his beautiful garden. Illustrated by Susan Saelig Gallagher in full colour.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2077706 in Books
• Published on: 1996-08
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 32 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Gallagher's (Moonhorse) eerily stylized paintings lend a haunting resonance to this moralistic tale of a hardened man who learns to open his heart. When the curmudgeonly Giant denies the local children access to his expansive garden, a great chill descends on them all. Winter lingers and spring refuses to scale the garden walls. But the children find a way into the beloved spot and the trees, grateful for the company and attention, begin to bloom. Seeing such beauty, the Giant is transformed and befriends his young neighbors, allowing them free rein. Not long afterward, a special boy appears to escort the old man to Paradise. Wilde's lessons are easily deciphered, though children may be confused by the overt religious imagery at tale's end. The towering but somehow gentlemanly Giant on the book's black-bordered jacket cuts an intriguing and imposing swath. Meanwhile, Gallagher's gallivanting and ghostly-white Snow, Frost and North Wind characters and her warm and golden images of happy children and gorgeous blossoms create plenty of drama. All ages.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Ages 6-8. The familiar Wilde tale is well served by Gallagher's illustrations, in which the clothing and the faces of the children who come into the blooming garden are in strong contrast to the costumes and figures of the people who rule the wintry landscape after the selfish giant has exiled the children. The giant's size is also well handled: it's clear that every adult looks like a giant to a child. The story's ending, which implies that the child has returned to take the giant to Paradise, should be noted as a departure from what some readers expect in the giant genre. Mary Harris Veeder

Ingram
When a giant refuses to allow children to play in his garden, the garden becomes bleak and dark, perpetually enveloped by winter, until a special child melts the giant's heart and brings spring back to the garden, in a beautifully illustrated rendition of Wilde's beloved fable.