Member Reviews
A cross between the classic tale and Night At The Museum movie. good illustrations to go along with the story. No idea it was a series and definitely interested in reading more. It works well as a stand-alone tale grips the reader at the first page and doesn't let go until the last page.
Thank you to NetGalley, Capstone, Stone Arch Books and Thomas Kingsley Troupe for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
An excellent story. We enjoyed reading this story and having another approach to the Gulliver Giant story. It was well done and another great in this series of books too. We really enjoy these and recommend this book as well as the library series. The illustrations are great too.
This was an enjoyable quick read and would be enjoyed by younger girls and boys. A cute spin on the original Gulliver Travelers book. For those that enjoy alternate view/stories on history or classic books, I strongly suggest this book.
I received this from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book in return for my review based on my honest opinion.
This was a great book! I read it with my granddaughter, and she loved it. She liked the magic of the library and how it took the characters into the book to solve a mystery before they can be returned to the present time. She liked the drawings and thought the characters were funny. I liked that it wasn’t too childish and was enjoyable for both of us. She has already asked for all of the in this series.
THE GULLIVER GIANT
Written by Thomas Kingsley Troupe
2019; Capstone/Stone Arch Books
Genre: children's, classic retelling, fiction
(Review Not on Blog)
RATING: 3 STARS
This is a great book for kids to learn a bit about the classic book, Gulliver's Travel.
***I received an eARC from NETGALLEY***
I absolutely loved it. Think this is a book that would capture my middle schooler and I really liked the idea of the library transforming into one of the stories it holds. A cross between the classic tale and Night At The Museum movie. good illustrations to go along with the story. No idea it was a series and definitely interested in reading more. My daughter would love it!
I had a lot of fun reading The Gulliver Giant. It had likable characters, some fun twists and took me on a wonderful adventure. It was nice to return to a classic story, and see how things had changed there. These pages had to find a way to help this place out, it looked to be the only way to get back home.
Every Saturday at exactly 12:00, the inside of Sir MItchell NIghtingale City Library transforms into a book from the shelves. Time stands still and only the Librarian, Javier and his pages Baru, Jordan, Kelly, and Cal are aware of the changes.
After staying up way too late playing video games, Jordan quickly falls asleep in the children’s section while shelving books and misses the clock chiming twelve o’clock. When she wakes up, she is tied to the ground and surrounded by the Lilliputians from Gulliver’s Travels. Jordan will need the help of her friends to help save the little people from a giant monkey and get back to the Library without anyone getting hurt.
This was a fun way to introduce the classics to kids. The book has plenty of action to keep the story moving and the illustrations are great. While it’s part of a series, it reads very well as a stand-alone.
Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. It will feature on my blog www.sevenacrebooks.com on December 13, 2018.
I was first drawn to this book by the illustrations on the cover! I didn’t realize that the Midnight Library was a series, but it still reads just fine by itself and it is filled with awesome illustrations!
This series takes place in the children’s section of the Sir Mitchell Nightingale City Library. Every day at 12 pm the library transforms into one of its classics tales. In this particular story you jump into the world of Gulliver’s Travels. Jordan, a volunteer at the library has fallen asleep and wakes up to find herself tied up by tiny people. The story takes off there as Jordan and the other volunteers at the library have to find their way back.
This is a fun little chapter book and with an awesome premise for a children’s series! I will definitely keep an eye out for more in this Midnight Library Series! Thank you to NetGalley and Capstone for this advanced copy, my opinions are my own.
This book will feature on my blog Wednesday November 28, 2018.
www.colecampfireblog.com
LanaLCole@yahoo.com
A Fine Early Chapter Book
The premise here is straightforward. Every Saturday at noon the Nightingale Library clock chimes oddly and the Head Librarian and his four young interns are transported to the world and action of some well known book. They have to fix a problem or rebalance something that has gone awry in the book's story in order to return home. This volume sees our heroes transported to Lilliput and the world of "Gulliver's Travels". (Three other themed books will come out when this one does - a Greek Gods and Minotaur book, a Frankenstein zombie book, and a Poe's "Raven" book.)
"The Gulliver Giant" book is very basic. Sentences are short and direct. The problem is clear and the solution is uncomplicated. Characters just have a name and maybe one or two distinguishing features. (For example, the intern who is the center of most of the action in this one, Jordan, plays a lot of video games.) Scene setting is minimal. Dialogue is clipped, and conversations last only a line or two. The illustrations are minimal. The book feels like early "Magic Treehouse" or, maybe, "Secrets of Droon" and seems aimed at a younger crowd than is the case for a more complex series, like "Time-Warp Trio".
"Gulliver's Travels" struck me as a bit obscure to be featured in a fantasy book for brand new chapter book readers. But it turns out you don't really need to know the book; you really just need to know about Lilliputians being small, Brobdingnagians being big, and Lilliputians arguing about the right way to crack an egg.
Because it is so direct and streamlined the book screams along. I don't know if that's good or bad because it doesn't feel very engaging or memorable, even if it is easy to read. I guess that depends on the reader, and this might be just the thing for a youngster. But I'd probably try just one before committing to the whole series.
The Gulliver Giant is a fantastic chapter book introducing young readers to the classic story of Gulliver's Travels! I was absolutely delighted to see the story made accessible to a new audience, one that will hopefully be interested enough in the story to not only remember it, but perhaps pick up the full classic when they are older. The book is one of a four book set, all based around a work of classic fiction. The language does not "talk down" to young readers, but instead places them in a familiar setting with kids probably very much like them.
I loved the idea of a library that transports patrons (but only some!) into the setting of a book. It was handled well for the target age range - not too many details, but enough to capture the imagination. The illustrations were fun, as well.
4 stars out of 5, due to what I felt was a rather silly and random way of dealing with the monkey. I think even children would be slightly confused by this addition, as there was no lead up and probably most of the target audience will not be familiar with the concept of hypnotism. Still a great book and I'm looking forward to reading the other three!
Review will be posted on my blog at the link below on December 20, 2018.
The problem with classic literature is that it is a bit inexcessible to younger readers. At middle-grade, which is what this book is meant for, perhaps they have heard of Guilliver’s Travels, or even seen the old Fliser cartoon based on the books, but it is doubtful they would have read it.
So, this is an easy way to tell them a little bit of what the book was about, and still have fun with the premise.
This series of books, the Midnight Library, apparently takes classic books, and puts the pages and the librarian into the story, so they can have their own adventures. In this one, they are put in Lilliput. The library itself, is magic, and when the clock strikes 12, which it doesn’t do all that much, it takes them into a novel of classic literature.
It is a neat premise, and the books are quick and easy to read.
Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.
A library whose books come alive at noon, a giant, tiny people, and a giant monkey on a sugar rush. Every Saturday at noon, the old, broken clock chimes in the Sir Mitchell Nightingale City Library and Javier, Baru, Jordan, Kelly, and Cal are sucked into a different book that has gone awry.
This story takes place after Gulliver's adventures and presents two problems for the pages and their mentor to solve: Can they find Glum's giant pet monkey who ate one too many cookies, and Can they get the people of Lilliput and Blefuscuan to stop fighting over the right way to crack an egg?
Only after reading the entire book, did I realize that this was part of the ongoing Midnight Library series (I thought maybe this was the first book). It works well as a stand-alone tale grips the reader at the first page and doesn't let go until the last. Packed with fantastic imagery and wonderful illustrations, this book is a winner at any age.
The entire Midnight Series will now make it on to my reading shelf.
I would rate it 10/5 if I could.
This review was made possible through an ARC provided by NetGalley and also appears on my blog.