Giant Tess

by Dan Yaccarino, Dan Yaccarino (Illustrator)

Overview

“[Tess’s] self-confidence grows to match her giant heart. A fanciful story of empowerment.” —Kirkus

Internationally acclaimed and bestselling author-illustrator Dan Yaccarino presents a larger than life picture book about a girl with a heart as giant as she is.

Tess has a BIG problem.

She’s a giant with an enormous wish to be like everyone else in the city of Myth-hattan. When she gives up on ever fitting in, she meets a friend just her size, and the two team up for a daring rescue. Can these misfits save the day—and the big city parade?

This reassuring and heartwarming tale will empower young readers struggling to find acceptance, and it reminds us that there’s a hero within every one of us.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062670274
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	04/02/2019
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	8.10(w) x 10.10(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Dan Yaccarino is an internationally acclaimed author-illustrator with more than thirty children’s books to his credit, including I Am a Story, Five Little Pumpkins, Five Little Bunnies, Trashy Town, and Giant Tess. He also created and produced Nickelodeon’s Oswald and is the character designer behind The Backyardigans. You can visit him at www.yaccarinostudio.com.

Dan Yaccarino is an internationally acclaimed author-illustrator with more than thirty children’s books to his credit, including I Am a Story, Five Little Pumpkins, Five Little Bunnies, Trashy Town, and Giant Tess. He also created and produced Nickelodeon’s Oswald and is the character designer behind The Backyardigans. You can visit him at www.yaccarinostudio.com.

Editorial Reviews

01/31/2019

In Tess’s town of Myth-hattan, everyone is some kind of mythical creature: there are centaurs and Minotaurs, fairies and mer-people, and nobody thinks twice if you have snakes for hair. Tess, however, is the only giant, the adopted daughter of fairy parents, and after a series of mishaps tied to tourist touchpoints in the real Big Apple (cracking the ice at a famous skating rink, accidently smushing a float in the city’s big parade), she’s convinced she doesn’t belong anywhere: “I’m just too big!” But when she helps a giant green dragon with a sore paw, her life turns around as the two “became best friends right away, they were the same size!” And size does seem to matter (as does having a BFF who can fly) when the mayor of Myth-hattan starts to float off on a runaway parade balloon. This tale by Yaccarino (I Am a Story) follows a familiar arc, taking his putative misfit from wanting to be “like everyone else” to feeling she’s “just the right size.” His posterlike graphics, though, and obvious glee in sharing an alternate reality N.Y.C. (a map on the end pages shows “Grand Cyclops Station” and “The Lower Beast Side”) infuse the story with goofy sweetness. Ages 4–8. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

[Tess’s] self-confidence grows to match her giant heart… A fanciful story of empowerment.” — Kirkus Reviews

“[Yaccarino’s] posterlike graphics and obvious glee in sharing an alternate reality N.Y.C. infuse the story with goofy sweetness.” — Publishers Weekly

“The fun is in the details of the jaunty retro-style brush, India ink, and digital illustrations.” — Horn Book Magazine

“A satisfying tale of friendship and acceptance…Readers will root for heroine Tess and her sidekick.” — Booklist

From the Publisher

The fun is in the details of the jaunty retro-style brush, India ink, and digital illustrations.

Horn Book Magazine

A satisfying tale of friendship and acceptance…Readers will root for heroine Tess and her sidekick.

Booklist

A satisfying tale of friendship and acceptance…Readers will root for heroine Tess and her sidekick.

Booklist

2019-01-15

A baby grows to be a giant on the fabled isle of Myth-hattan.

Tess, a tiny swaddled bundle of joy, is adopted by two fairy parents with unfurled wings and swaying antennae. The family could not be happier. But Tess grows to epic proportions. She can't walk through Myth-hattan without causing mayhem, and she's still only a young tot. She accidentally crushes street-vendor carts with a single step and bumps her head on the Myth-hattan blimp flying by in the sky. She feels entirely out of place and lonely. When she tries to help with the big parade (never explicitly named, but the one with large balloon characters), everything ends in a tangled mess. She rushes to Centaur Park in despair. But when she finds a friend who is her size and their stature actually helps to save the day, her self-confidence grows to match her giant heart. The book is filled with insider Manhattan jokes (endpapers show a map including the Lower Beast Side and Monster Square Garden) and myriad mythical creatures strolling casually by; readers will delight in spotting them all. Tess and her parents all have pale skin; other, background humanoid characters feature brown, tan, and green skin. The inked lines are classic Yaccarino, curved and flowing; the color palette is muted, and many details are not filled in.

Hidden humorous notes enhance a fanciful story of empowerment. (Picture book. 3-7)

Kirkus Reviews