Giants Beware!
By: Rafael Rosado and Jorge Aguirre
Publisher: First Second
Format: Softcover, 7 x 10, 208 pages, Full Color, $14.99
ISBN: 978-1-59643-582-7

One of my most enjoyable writing endeavors this column is now in its second year. That said, as I write this month's column I worry that some readers might have started to put a very simple equation together. More often than not, two and two do indeed equal four. And because they do I was hesitant to write another review for First Second Books. In short, Katie Monnin and First Second Books do indeed equal a favorable review. Despite my hesitation to write yet another positive review for First Second Books, however, I just can’t help myself. A leader of high-quality graphic novels for students and adults alike First Second Books continuously produces darn good graphic novels.  

Lured into Giants Beware! by its adorable cover art I originally picked it up just to read it for myself. As I read, however, I quickly realized that this graphic novel belonged in every elementary and middle school classroom and library. The art is endearingly engaging. The story is clever and fun.  

Claudette is a unique child with a vivid imagination. In fact, when we first meet her she is interrupting Pascal - a wise, older sage in the town – as he tells a legendary and, from Claudette's perspective, boring story about why the town has an extremely tall exterior wall. Entitled "The Baby-Feet-Eating Giant" Pascal's story doesn't impress Claudette. If she were to meet The Baby-Feet-Eating Giant she would have, instead of building a wall, "killed that no good baby-feet-eating monster!"

Is Pascal telling the story accurately? Are Claudette's suspicions about The Baby-Feet-Eating Giant valid? What is the real story? Packed with adventure and characters that will charm any aged reader, Giants Beware! is a fun-filled and adventurous read for all.  

English Language Arts Elements of Story

Plot: Claudette simply isn't buying it, the legendary tale of how the Marquis De Mont Petit Pierre defeated "The Baby-Feet-Eating Giant" by building a tall exterior wall around her small town.

Setting: the interior of the town Mont Petit Pierre, and the unknown beyond the town wall built by the town’s Marquis

Major Characters: Pascal, Claudette, The Baby-Feet-Eating Giant, the Marquis De Mont Petit Pierre, Valiant, Marie, Gaston, Zubair, the Marquis’ wife and Marie’s mother, Sergio, Poppa, Don Diego, Leo, townsmen and women, the Apple Hag, the Mad River King, the River Prince, Barry Barracuda, Minu

Themes: Adventure, Friendship, Loyalty, Literal and Figurative, Tall Tale, Legends and Myths, Fact and Fiction

Literature Pairing Suggestions: Aesop's Fables by Aesop, Bone by Jeff Smith, Amulet by Kazu Kibuishi, Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, Holes by Louis Sachar, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, any or all of The Arthur Trilogy by Kevin Crossley-Holland

Some Teaching Recommendations For Middle Level Readers

Suggested Alignment to the IRA /NCTE Standard(s):
- standard #s correspond to the numbers used by IRA/NCTE

1. Students read a wide range of print and nonprint texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment.  Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works.  

2. Students read a wide range of literature from many periods in many genres to build an understanding of the many dimensions (e.g., philosophical, ethical, aesthetic) of human experience.

3. Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate and appreciate texts.

Suggested Reading Lesson Plan for Middle Level Teachers and Librarians:

Directions: Ask students to work through the following graphic organizer as a class (Figure 1).

Figure 1: A graphic organizer for students reading Giants Beware!.    

Next, with these four questions and their answers in mind, challenge students to illustrate their reading comprehension growth about each character over time.

Be prepared to give students either a blank sheet of paper (for them to create their own reading comprehension growth chart), or a new and blank handout of Figure 1.  While some students will want a familiar structure to help them complete this illustrative task other students may have their own, unique ideas in mind for illustrating their reading comprehension growth.

Finally, encourage students to share and discuss their illustrated reading comprehension growth charts with each other.   

Take What You Can Carry
By: Kevin C. Pyle
Publisher: Henry Holt
Format: Softcover, 6 x 9, 128 pages, Full Color, $12.99
ISBN: 978-0-80508-286-9

This graphic novel is powerful. While I read it, I felt it asking me for a favor: Please write this review as more than just an educator. Write it as a human being.

Kevin C. Pyle's Take What You Can Carry is rich with historical insight and opportunity. I hesitate to say who should read it because everyone should read it.    

Separated by time, two parallel stories take place. First, the reader meets a young Japanese boy living in the United States. Despite a democratic, typical American childhood this boy is fenced in and guarded following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. Second, and nearly four decades later, the reader meets another young boy. In this case, the young boy is being interrogated by a police officer. Seemingly different the boys share some powerful similarities.  

In a typical review I might discuss some of these similarities. To do so in this review, though, would be to do this graphic novel a disservice. The similarities are for readers to discover and find.  

So there I leave it. Find what you can, take what you can carry, and literally pass this graphic novel on to someone else.   

English Language Arts Elements of Story

Plot: Separated by time, two young men must learn to copy with some of life's most critical coming of age issues. And even though their situations and lives seem an unlikely pairing, there are many more similarities than the reader may at first assume.       

Setting: Suburb of Chicago, IL (1970s), Berkeley, CA, San Bruno, CA (1940s)

Major Characters: Ken, Kyle

Themes: Time and Place, Generations, Coming of Age, Maturity, Old and Young

Traditional Literature Pairing Suggestions: The Bluest Eye or Beloved by Toni Morrison, Maus I and/or Maus II by Art Spiegelman, Persepolis I and/or Persepolis II by Marjane Satrapi, Rabbit series by John Updike, Night by Elie Wiesel, Surviving Auschwitz and/or The Reawakening by Primo Levi, All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane

Some Teaching Recommendations For Middle and High School Readers

Suggested Alignment to the IRA /NCTE Standard(s):*
- standard #s correspond to the numbers used by IRA/NCTE

1. Students read a wide range of print and nonprint texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment.  Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works.  

2. Students read a wide range of literature from many periods in many genres to build an understanding of the many dimensions (e.g., philosophical, ethical, aesthetic) of human experience.

3. Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate and appreciate texts.

4. Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.
 
Suggested Reading Lesson Plan for Middle and High School Readers:

Directions: Ask students to look at the three triangle-shaped graphic organizers below. Each triangle has its own directions.

Triangle 1: Ken
As you read Take What You Can Carry keep a list of the 5 Ws as they pertain to Ken's story: who, what, where, when, and why.




Triangle 2: Kyle
As you read Take What You Can Carry keep a list of the 5 Ws as they pertain to Kyle's story: who, what, where, when, and why.



Triangle 3: Take What You Can Carry
Take a few minutes to reread and reflect on triangles 1 and 2.  After you do so, consider the 5 Ws in terms of the entire story. Fill out the below, third triangle with both boys' stories in mind, making a plus symbol (+) next to every significant similarity and a negative symbol (-) next to every significant difference.



Finally, and as a class, discuss the significance of each triangle. In regards to the 3rd and final triangle, which details of the 5 Ws did you give a + symbol and which did you give a – symbol? Why?

Keep notes on your discussion in the space below.

Katie Monnin, PhD, is an assistant professor of literacy at the University of North Florida and author of Teaching Graphic Novels: Practical Strategies for the Secondary ELA Classroom (2010) from Maupin House. To learn more about Teaching Graphic Novels or Katie Monnin, please go to this link: http://www.maupinhouse.com/monnin.php.