Children's Fiction Intermediate
Alice and the Birthday Giant
- Publisher
- Fitzhenry and Whiteside
- Initial publish date
- Jun 2000
- Category
- Intermediate, Readers
-
Hardback
- ISBN
- 9781550415384
- Publish Date
- Jun 2000
- List Price
- $13.95
Classroom Resources
Where to buy it
Description
Alice is hoping to have an extraordinary day. It is her birthday and she has wished for something really big. But the "something big" turns out to be a giant who suddenly appears in her bedroom and causes chaos at her birthday party. All the giant really wants is to return home (and have some hot dogs and ice cream before he goes)! Alice must quickly get some magical help from the librarian Ms. McKracken before everything gets out of control!
About the authors
JOHN GREEN is a retired newspaperman. A graduate of both the University of British Columbia and Columbia University, he became interested in the sasquatch in 1957 while he was owner/publisher of the Agassiz-Harrison Advance newspaper and has spent the past 38 years as one of the most active participants in all aspects of the sasquatch investigation. His personal odyssey has ranged from hunting the sasquatch in the wild to following their trail across the continent, to tracking them by computer, and he has been the leader in the long attempt, only now beginning to bearing fruit, to involve the scientific community in the search.. He has written several books on the sasquatch and is considered a pre-eminent authority in the field, having been keynote speaker at all three of the major scientific symposiums so far held on this subject. John and his wife, June, live in Harrison Hot Springs, British Columbia. A profile of John's sasquatch-related activities is included in Meet the Sasquatch under Tributes - Canadian and American Researchers.
In her latest book with Orca,Queen Nadine, Maryann Kovalski has once again blended the unique voice and warm-and-bouncy artwork that has made her a favorite across the country. She has illustrated over twenty titles, six of which she also wrote. Her touching Brenda and Edward has become a Canadian classic and her illustrations for The Big Storm by Rhea Tregebov earned her a Governer General's Award nomination. Best-selling collaborations include Mable Murple with Sheree Fitch and Princess Prunella and the Purple Peanut with Margeret Atwood.
Editorial Reviews
"The vocabulary, syntax structure, and large print of this First Flight Reader are suitable for the target audience. Appropriately, Alice solves the problem that she creates. The giant is friendly and childlike, and readers will undoubtedly look forward to his return. Maryann Kovalski's illustrations enhance the humorous story. Recommended."
- Canadian Book Review Annual
"Veteran illustrator Maryann Kovalski and experienced writer John Green combine their prodigious talents in Alice And the Birthday Giant, a fantastical tale of - well - a girl whose birthday party is crashed by a huge, hungry giant. Giants, according to both the Narnia Chronicles and Harry Potter series, are extremely pugnacious and ill-tempered. Not so with Alice's friend. He's a one-eyed goombah with a mustache the size and appearance of a motorized street-sweeper, flip-flops the size of large rafts and a belly that has to be seen to believed. After the giant frightens the guests from Alice's birthday soiree - dad has gone in search of a very large net - Alice goes to the library (where else?) for information on how to get the giant back home. There are some funny moments as the librarian misfires - where is Hermione Granger when you need her” - but eventually everything turns out OK. Kovalski, who's penned classics like The Wheels on the Bus and Rain, Rain and Green, whose familiar to us through his hilarious There's a Dragon in My Closet, have a lot of fun with this one."
- The Hamilton Spectator, Hamilton, Ontario
