by Julia Donaldson
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| List Price: | $5.99 |
| Amazon Price: | $5.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. |
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| Lowest New Price: | $2.51 |
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Product Description
When George the giant spies a shop full of wonderful clothes, he decides to treat himself to a new outfit. He puts on his new shirt, pants, shoes, and tie, and is immediately transformed from the scruffiest giant in town to the spiffiest giant in town. But on his way home, George runs into various animals who need his help. And little by little, George finds himself giving away all his new purchases.
From the creators of Room on the Broom, this is a lively tale that reminds readers that sometimes it's what's inside a person-or a giant-that matters most.
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 A sweet, rhyming story - showing how to share and care, 2008-09-20
Julia Donaldson writes incredibly engaging books for children with a lovely line in humour for adults. The illustrator, Axel, is my favourite illustrator for her works, he seems to bring a quirky but rich naivety to her lovely stories. And this is a lovely story.
It is of a giant who is the worst dressed in town so he goes to buy himself some spiffy clothes. As he leaves town he meets all these people and animals who have nothing - or have been hard done by, he gives them something of his (a tie, a sock and so on) until he is once again down to nothing. He gets his old clothes back and feels down for a while, until he realises all the friends that he has made along the way
A lovely story and a lovely message. The illustrations which seem to be in rich pastel, really draw out the engaging quirkiness of the story.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Fine, but not as good other Julia Donaldson books I've read to my kids, 2008-01-31
If the Gruffalo is one of my favorite books to read to my kids...
And The Gruffalo's Child is a tick lower than that...
And Room on the Broom is not quite as much fun as The Gruffalo's Child... then I have to say that "The Spiffiest Giant in Town" is a notch lower than all of them.
It's a simple little morality tale, well illustrated, but it doesn't have the wordplay and wit of the Gruffalo books.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Marvelous, 2007-12-02
We originally bought The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson in London for our first child several years ago, and now own practically every book she has written. Most of the stories have some sort of moral to them but not in your face or preachy. They are fun and entertaining and even my husband and I do not mind reading them over and over again.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Fantastic Stories, 2006-12-28
I am an absolute Julia Donaldson fan and own almost all her stories. This one as well as probably her most famous story (The Gruffalo), must rate as some of the best children stories available. Snail & the Whale, Room on the Broom is must-buys as well. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
 A whole new kind of BFG, 2004-07-07
Author Julia Donaldson acquired a faithful following of British readers when years ago she first penned her masterpiece, ?The Gruffalo?. Unfortunately, America has yet to recognize this work formally and despite her numerous awards, Ms. Donaldson has not yet reached household name status in the States quite yet. I decided to introduce myself to her work by reading a book that, to my mind, embodies silliness and morality twofold. ?The Spiffiest Giant in Town? is, to be brief, about a spiffy giant. And it?s top notch.
Our hero in this tale is George the giant. George lives in a small village that is an odd combination of fairy tale old and twenty-first century new. In this particular village, giants are just ordinary citizens like anybody else. It hasn?t escaped George?s notice that when it comes to clothing, he?s sorely in need. Every day George wears the same old brown sandals and the same old-patched up gown (which looks like nothing so much as a linen dress). Says George, ?I wish I wasn?t the scruffiest giant in town?. One day, George sees that a store is selling giant sized clothing. Delighted he purchases ?a spiffy shirt, a spiffy pair of pants, a spiffy belt, a spiffy striped tie?, and spiffy socks and shoes. He leaves looking like an Assistant Bank Manager and soon he comes across a giraffe who?s missing a scarf. George gives his tie to the giraffe to keep him warm then moseys out of town. Next he sees a goat who?s lost his sail. George?s shirt solves that problem forthwith. You can see where this is going. By the time everything is said and done George is severely depleted in terms of outerwear and his old clothes start looking a little less scruffy after all. Better still, the animals he helped get together to show their appreciation, and George is undeniably lauded.
First of all, I was delighted to discover that the opposite of ?scruffy? is ?spiffy?. I mean, it makes perfect sense when you say it that way, but it isn?t one of those things they teach you in school. George is such a likable hero that you?re rooting for him every step (and hop) of the way. I was especially pleased to find that the little song he sings himself after every animal rescue, rhymes. I can?t tell you how many books for kids I look through where even the simplest of rhymes either don?t work or are avoided altogether. This story is about the rewards that come with simply making other people happy. It?s a good strong message and one that I suspect too often gets lost in the shuffle of life sometimes.
Honestly though? I can?t claim that this book would have been even half the success that it is had it not been for artist Axel Scheffler. Mr. Scheffler (also living in England at the moment) has a fine cartoony style that fits the action of this tale perfectly. It's his details that make the book so great. Like the fact that other giants live in the town (top and straw hats abound). Or the fact that as George walks home in his clothes, his meticulously combed hair gets wilder and wilder and wilder. There are lots of these tiny details in the story, and together they make it a fabulous read. Could I have liked George half so much with a different artist? Maybe. But I wouldn?t count on it.
In the end, the moral of this tale is that spiffiness comes in all kinds of sizes. That sounds corny, but we?re dealing with a picture book here, people. Let the corniness abound. It?s just so pleasant to read a story like this that doesn?t condescend to its child audience and is a fun romp for parents as well. If you?re the kind of person who upon seeing the word, ?Spiffiest?, in the title of a book, immediately wants to read it, this book is for you. If that isn?t your reaction, good news. This book is still for you. Please feel free to take an inordinate amount of pleasure in it. It'll do you a spot of good.
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