The Giants' Farm by Jane Yolen, illustrated by Tomie dePaola

Aladdin's Quix line features both original and reprinted early chapters and easy readers. They were created around the same time as Scholastic's Branches and Acorn line, but have, in general, not garnered the same amount of interest. I personally feel some nostalgia around the Quackenbush titles, which I grew up with, but usually the art styles are unlikely to appeal to modern kids. However, I'm getting so many requests for beginning chapters and early readers that I continue reviewing pretty much anything that comes across my radar, and I was interested to see how this series would stand up to the passage of time.

The Giants' Farm, and sequels, were originally published in the 1970s and the cadence of short, stilted sentences, as well as dePaola's iconic art, will be familiar to those of us who have been around for a while and grew up reading Frog and Toad, Commander Toad, Golly Sisters, and other classics of the genre. DePaola's art shows the found family of giants, Grizzle, a stereotypically huge giant with big teeth and ears, Dazzle, a jolly fat giant who loves to cook, the twins Grab and Grub, and little Dab, the smallest giant, who likes to read and comes up with the ideas. Although at first this looks like a traditional nuclear family, it's made clear in the first few pages and throughout the book that they are friends and none of them are really in "parenting" roles. Grizzle, the biggest and strongest male, does the hard work of the farm, but sometimes he feels upset and needs comforting. Dazzle, a female who loves to cook, enjoys feeding all the giants but sometimes needs their help to work on her projects. Grab and Grub, both male, don't have strong personalities outside of their twin-ness and making silly jokes. Dab, the youngest and a girl, is always considered useful and helpful despite her small size. Each giant has their role and all work together to support their family and their farm.

The illustrations give all five giants short hair, a variety of pants and tops, with a hat for Dazzle and a flower in Dab's hair. The text is typical for easy readers at the time, what would be considered intermediate or, as Quix has reformatted it, a beginning chapter book, with the short sentences smoothed into brief paragraphs. Surviving classic easy readers at this level would include Frog and Toad and Nate the Great.

Verdict: This is a pleasant, mildly humorous story. I have an audience for classic/traditional stories, so this could well be popular in my library; I will be seeing how the first title circulates before purchasing the reissued sequels. If you have an audience for the classic style of easy reader, with black and white illustrations, it's likely to be a good choice for your collection.

ISBN: 9781534488588; Originally published 1977; This edition published February 2023; Review copy provided by publisher