Children's Fiction Humorous Stories
The Boy Who Ate the World
(and the girl who saved it)
- Publisher
- Scholastic Canada Ltd
- Initial publish date
- Oct 2008
- Category
- Humorous Stories, Fantasy & Magic
- Recommended Age
- 5 to 8
- Recommended Grade
- p to 3
-
Hardback
- ISBN
- 9780439947381
- Publish Date
- Oct 2008
- List Price
- $19.99
Classroom Resources
Where to buy it
Description
Herman Oof is a giant. Sarah is a girl. Herman needs 140 hamburgers and 200 glasses of milk for a snack. Sarah does not. Herman takes to swallowing up entire cities and continents and drinking up lakes and oceans. Sarah is not amused. Herman has eaten her dog.
When the island of Japan is all that's left of the world, Herman confesses that he might burst if he eats another bite.
"You'd burst?" Sarah asks
"Absolutely." Herman replies.
An idea is born. Sarah realizes that it just might be possible to restore the world with a loud WHOOSH and only a few teeth marks as proof of what might have been. Pierre Pratt's inventive illustrations are the perfect accompaniment to this entertaining warning about the dangers of global over-consumption.
About the authors
Don Gillmor’s most recent book To the River won the 2019 Governor General’s Literary Award for non-fiction. He is the author of a two-volume history of Canada, Canada: A People’s History, which won the Libris Award, and two other books of non-fiction, The Desire of Every Living Thing and I Swear by Apollo. He has written three critically acclaimed novels – Kanata, Mount Pleasant and Long Change – as well as nine books for children, two of which were nominated for a Governor General’s Award. He has won twelve National Magazine Awards, including the Outstanding Achievement Award. He lives in Toronto with his wife and two children.
Awards
- Commended, Best Books for Kids and Teens, Canadian Children's Book Centre
Librarian Reviews
The Boy Who Ate the World
Don Gillmor has written a humorous story about greedy giants who live among us. They co-exist in a world quickly running out of enough food to sustain their young son. Could there be a hidden message in this story? Not for the five-year-old crowd, where the idea that a giant baby with a silly name like Herman Oof – who eats buildings and whole countries – produces spontaneous giggles.Eating, however, does not make Herman happy; in his cravings he imagines the moon and the stars are his only friends. Just like the Danish folktale of the greedy cat who eats everything in sight, Gillmor’s Herman increases in size until he too declares if he ate one more thing he would burst. Enter young Sarah – very upset that Herman has eaten her dog – who offers that one extra bite. The humorous and predictable result relieves Herman of his enormous load and saves the world (with a few teeth marks on it)! Gillmor offers a curious and gentle twist at the end. When Sarah and her dog look up at the moon, they see a familiar face!
The story is greatly enhanced by the gifted Pierre Pratt. Using his artistic signature (oil pastel and acrylic) he translates Gillmor’s words into fantastically imaginable pictures. He successfully changes the perspective so the reader sees the world through – or around – a growing Herman until the world and Herman are successfully blended together.
Source: The Canadian Children's Bookcentre. Fall 2008. Vol.31 No.4.
The Boy Who Ate the World (And the Girl Who Saved It)
Herman, a seven-year-old giant, can’t stop himself from eating the whole world — one building, one lake and one continent at a time. When Herman tells Sarah that he can’t eat another bite or he’ll burst, she has an idea that just might undo all of the damage that Herman’s appetite has caused.Source: The Canadian Children’s Book Centre. Best Books for Kids & Teens. 2009.
