There’s a fearless warrior on the prowl, ready to free her town Mont Petit Pierre of the scourge of the dreaded baby-feet-eating giant. Her name is Claudette, and she’s accompanied by her timid pastry-making brother Gaston and her princess-on-the-brain friend Marie. Oh, and her dog, Valiant. Giants Beware!
Giants Beware! is an upcoming comic book by Rafael Rosado and Jorge Aguirre, and it’s absolutely delightful. If you’ve got comics-loving kids, you’ll want to grab a copy of this as soon as it comes out, because they’ll love it, and so will you. (I liked it so much I’m willing to forgive them for leaving out a comma in the title.) I read it aloud to my daughters, and my five-year-old immediately wanted me to start again as soon as we were done. And then again. And when I’m not reading it to her, she whisks it away and pores over it herself.
Claudette lives in the tiny village of Mont Petit Pierre, which is surrounded by a great wall to protect the village from the giant, driven away into the mountains by Marquis Pierre the XXXII. But when Claudette discovers that the giant wasn’t slain, just scared off, she is indignant. “That’s irresponsible!” she cries.
She confronts the current Marquis: “Could you please explain to me your father’s reckless decision to build an expensive tax-payer funded fortress around our town instead of pursuing the far more reliable and cheaper solution of killing the evil baby-feet-eating giant!” But the Marquis brushes her complaint aside, as does her blacksmith father. So Claudette decides that it’s up to her to hunt down the giant and finish it off, once and for all.
She convinces Marie (daughter of the Marquis) and her brother Gaston to go with her, and they soon find the ability to rise up to the occasion … as well as some hidden secrets about the giant himself. Giants Beware! is full of humor and charm, and the illustrations are expressive and full of energy. Rosado, the artist, is a storyboard artist and you can tell he has a great eye for composing a scene. While the character arcs may not be completely surprising, they fall into a familiar fairy tale sensibility that feels comfortable and right. And the giant … well, I don’t want to spoil that for you.
You can read an excerpt of the book on the Macmillan website, and find out more about the book at its blog. Giants Beware! will be released April 10, and is available for pre-order now. Aguirre has stated on the blog that they hope it’s just the first in a series — I’d love to see where Claudette and friends go next!
Disclosure: First Second provided a copy of the book for review.
