Grandad's Secret Giant

Billy spends a lot of time with Grandad listening to his stories, but this is one, he just does not believe is possible. Grandad tells Billy about the heroic secret giant who lives in town and goes around doing all the good things unnoticed. One early morning Billy finds himself face-to-face with this unimaginable giant; with 'hands the size of tables' and 'legs as long as drainpipes'. Billy doesn't quite have the reaction he expected and does what everyone else before him has - he runs away, screaming. Billy is terrified! Billy goes away feeling worried about his reaction and that maybe the giant is not that scary after all, maybe he's lonely and just wants to be loved like everybody else. This is a heart-warming story with a positive message, the age old saying of 'never judge a book by its cover'. This beautiful story introduces children to lots of discussion about the effects of our actions to others, accepting people who are different. A PSHE talking point would be to think of mistakes we have made before, think about a time when we might have hurt someone else's feelings and ideas of how we might make amends just like Billy and Grandad did for the secret giant. I could go on and on planning for year 1 around this book. I would use this high-quality text to motivate and engage children in a wide range of curriculum areas. This book lends itself beautifully to measuring length in maths. Investigating the length of parts of the giant and designing and creating a life size giant of their own. The text can be used for lots of character description writing. In this story, there is an unlikely hero, it encourages the children to think about heroes that don't necessarily need to wear a cape or a fancy costume. Heroes can be everyday people who choose to do right to/for others. Children could think about their own unlikely hero. What might he/she look like? What will he/she do that makes them a hero? I would use this with year 1 and 2 children to write an apology letters to the giant from Billy following his upsetting reaction. Simile poems would be great using some of the descriptive sentences used to describe the size of the giant; 'feet as large as rowing boats'. Picture book / Ages 5+ / Reviewed by Nikki Stiles, teacher.

Suggested Reading Age 5+

Grandad's Secret Giant is a fabulous book written by the same author who brought us The Bear and the Piano. Billy, our main character, doesn't believe his loving Grandad when he tells him that there is a giant living in town, doing good deeds for all the residents of Gableview. Despite several attempts to convince his grandson, Grandad can't break down Billy's stubborn barrier and he refuses to believe that giant could move aroun town without being spotted. That is until a first hand experience changes his mind. This experience forces Billy to question his actions as he tries to undo a wrong. I read this book with my class of year 1 children and they loved it. Here are some of the things they said about it: 'I loved the colour pictures.' 'I really liked the ending.' 'I liked how the giant was described.' They all agreed that other children should have this book read to them and even mums and dads would enjoy it at bedtime. We would happily read this story, and others by David Litchfield, again.

Suggested Reading Age 5+