Giants Beware!

No monsters were harmed in the telling of this book

Aguirre, Jorge and Rosado, Rafael. Giants Beware!. New York : First Second, 2012.

Plot: Claudette, proud daughter of the village blacksmith, longs to gain a hero's glory. Determined to earn it through an act of giant-slaying, she convinces Gaston, her cowardly brother, and Marie, a princess wanna-be, to join her quest. Through unexpected talents, weapons, and plans, they manage to escape the wrath of a forest witch and hostility of a river king. However, the giant proves less than malicious. She still must prove herself when the amicable giant is threatened by the town's irate soldiers.

Genre: Fantasy, Graphic Novels

Reading Level: Grades 3-6

Similar Titles: Courtney Crumrin and the Night Things, Hildafolk

Personal Thoughts: The book is a fairly typical "modern" fairy tale. Each of the characters serves as an expected foil for their archtype (the aggressive girl, the active damsel, and the cowardly boy, for example). Still, it manages to provide enough variation to appeal to the reader. Additionally, it touches on topics not often addressed in such stories, like the emptiness of seeking glory for glory's sake.

However, it falls into a flaw frequently facing fantasy girl protagonists. Like several other stories, including Jane and the Dragon and The Paper Bag Princess, the story attempts to make a hero out of a girl, which certainly is not a bad thing. Girls, like boys, need to know they can be heroic. The problem arises, as in the other tales, at the end of the story. The main antagonist simply is not antagonistic. It seems like the tales seek to prove women can be great, but refuse to allow them to face genuine peril. In the stories, the heroines ultimately talk their way out of danger, instead of actively addressing it. Certainly, a willingness to compromise and an intellect to manipulate a negative situation are to be honored, but it frustrates me when a story promises to prove girls are as good as boys when the girls are not allowed to conquer real danger. The girls can play at adventure, but not actually face a villain. Perhaps this is why I like Brave so much. True, Meredeth shows expert speaking skills to the other clans. However, she and her mother do not hesitate to attack a foe that cannot be reasoned with. When Mordu threatens them, they do not shirk away from a necessary fight. As such, they are heroic, both on an intellectual and active level. By making the ultimate foe something that will not be fought, it destroys a very appealing part of a fantasy: that dragons, while unreasonable, can ultimately be beaten.