There was once a child who lived on an island in the sea with her father who was a knight
Based on a classic Swedish fairytale by Elsa Beskow, The Stone Giant tells us a tale of bravery, self belief and determination.
A young girl misses her father who has gone off to defeat the stone giant – who turns people to stone if they look at him. Without hesitation, she embarks on a dangerous journey through the cold dark sea and then onto a long winding path.
She meets an old lady who allows her to borrow an umbrella – with the warning words “it’s the giants gaze that turns all living things to stone”.
And with that, the fairytale continues – with a happy ending of course.
This fairytale is wonderful and one to show that young girls, with some determination and a little bit of help can also save the day from magical stone giants.
Written with accompanying illustrations, this book is a wonderful new way to study fairytales and wonder how they all link together in different wys.
Many classrooms explore fairytales as a unit of writing and reading but this is another one to shine a different perspective on what we often see as fairytales. There is a villain but who is the hero? Who is the princess? And who is the helper?
It’s a great book to offer your more able readers and writers and perhaps compare to the well known fairytales of many classrooms out there.
What can you do with this book
- What are fairytales and what usually happens?
- Compare this fairytale to other more well known fairytales and find the differences. How and why are they different? Which do you prefer?
- Why is there magic in fairytales?
- Why is the young girl the hero? What role does the old lady in the house play?
- What do you think happened to the stone giant? Is the stone giant still there today?
