How Do You Feed A Hungry Giant?

I love reading books… I loved reading books.

The time I used to devote to this activity has progressively shrunk to a real minimum, barely enough to keep a somewhat decent vocabulary, get inspired and temporarily pretend that my daughters screaming in the background are actually far, far away! In the past few of months I only read a book “for myself”, the Steve Jobs Biography… I got to the part where he launched the iPad, then Giulia (my youngest) has removed my bookmark. What a lame excuse uh? Well, book is still sitting in front of me, and I also know how it ends… so I am taking my time. Parenthood however has introduced me to the joy (I am being sarcastic here) of children’s literature; lately Giulia’s preference has fallen on the mischievous Junie B. Jones. She is funny but I’m sick of her, it has already been a few weeks and I am ready to hide all of her books… or better donate them! So when a friend of mine wrote me in regards of her new children book coming out I asked her to send me a copy, so I could finally have something new to read.

How Do You Feed a Hungry Giant by Caitlin Friedman is a fun pop-up book about food and friendship, it reads smoothly and it’s over quickly enough so you can turn off the lights in a timely manner and put your kids to bed. This unless your kid falls in love with the book, the pop-ups, the Hungry Giant, the mother, the cupcakes and the peanut butter, the dog that talks, the sign that the giant is holding, and the nifty little booklet of recipes that comes with the actual story.

I knew that I wanted to give my friend a good review, I knew that I could because on these pages I can write whatever I want… but I also knew I could be bias, and I owe a little bit more than that to anyone that reads The Tuscan Gun.

Hence, I read and played with the book for a couple of evenings in bed with my daughter, then I interviewed her about her “experience”. My girl is very straight forward and her answers are in general shorter then my questions!

Me: Did you like the book Giulia?

Giulia: Yes.

M: Why?

G: It was really fun and I liked the Giant!

M: What was your favorite part and why?

G: I had two favorite parts, the part when the giant drinks the chocolate milk, and the last page with the Giant holding a sign (Giulia realized she could read on the sign and she got real proud and excited).

M: What was your least favorite part?

G: When the mother comes home.

M: Do you think this is a realistic story?

G: No, nobody has that many yogurts in the fridge of their house.

M: Did you like any of the food that OScar gave tthe Giant?

G: The carrot cake.

M: Do you think Oscar fed the Giant healthy food?

G: Yes, but maybe too much chocolate.

M: What would you feed a Giant with?

G: Cookies, Fresh Eggs and Pasta.

M: The book has recipes that Oscar and his mom cook at the end, which one is your favorite?

G: The Pizza Chocolate Chip Cookie.

M: Your least favorite?

G: The french fries.

M: Is there something that impressed you in this book?

G: I liked that the mother came home and did not get angry with Oscar. I like that they cooked together for the Giant.

M: Do you think your friends would enjoy this book?

G: Totally!