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"Where the Giant Sleeps" by Mem Fox

Author:

Mem Fox

Publisher:

Harcourt, 2007

Reviewed by:

John Warren Stewig, Carthage College , Kenosha, Wis.

A pleasantly strange, dream-like haze permeates this slight tale, which is mostly an enumeration of various sleepers (fairy, pirate, wizard, witches, goblin, pixies, dwarfs, dragon, ogre, elves). The main sleeper, the giant, is a composite figure, ie: hair of cotton ball trees, eyes and mouth of buildings. Each opening following the introductory spread features an circular close-up fragment from the first opening on the left, facing a full page spread on the right showing the character being described.

There are the usual Radunsky humorous touches. Here the pirate mentioned in the text turns out to be a big-eared dog ensconced in his house, with the name "Pirate" above the door. Using gouache on a rough paper makes the art suitably soft-edged to support the sleeping/dreaming motif.

Radunsky is often delightfully perplexing, as in "The Mighty Asparagus" (Harcourt 2004), for which he wrote the text and did the art. What is this fanciful tale about? It isn't clear, but isn't that better than some other books, which are completely obvious?