I am a MASSIVE FAN of myth, folklore, fairy tales, and all that good stuff. It's all good stuff, too! It's been a really long time since I've read this book but I know it took me on a journey of the fantastic.
It was funny and heartfelt. It was suspenseful! Wholesome! Harrowing!
I still have this book in physical format and I am never letting it go.

Thom was not my favorite magical middle-grade protagonist. The Monkey King, however, was delightful. I see this getting lost in the sea of middle grade folklore/myth magical books as it is not as strong as others in the genre.

This book is a fun read for those who like adventure stories and mythology. It is a decently long chapter book, but there are really cool illustrations to help break it up. I think it would be especially great to read to a young audience but I enjoyed it myself so good for all ages!
Full review on YouTube

Thom Ngoh is super strong, like really strong and she doesn't know what to do or how to handle it. She is bullied by girls on her soccer team, and she is kind of embarrassed of things her Vietnamese mother does/says. Then one day she accidentally releases the Monkey King from his imprisonment and he now teaches her how to control her strength.

He makes a deal with her to remove her super strength if she helps him break into the heavens to retrieve a magical item. But is he the friend she thinks he is?

I enjoyed this book, and I though the narrator, Kim Mai Guest, did a fantastic job.

I will be honest that I almost DNF'd this book; I would have if not for wanting to clear it off my NetGalley list. Being 40 and having to hear the internal struggle of a middle school girl over her culture, the girls at school, etc really annoyed me. I wanted to just shake her and tell her to get over herself and set her on the right path. But as Thom began to gain more confidence in herself through the Monkey King, she became less annoying and I am glad I stuck with the book.

I just put the audio book for book 2 on hold and excited to get into it!

This was pretty great. While the main character and I didn't click, the Monkey King definitely did! The exact kind of adventure and myth mixture I would have loved as a kid.

This was such a fun read and I highly recommend this to fans of the Rick Riordan Presents books. Cannot wait to read book 2!

This is a great addition to the folklore/mythology collection. I enjoyed experiencing Thom's culture and the exploration of Vietnamese mythology and lore. It did take me a bit to get into the story and pacing was sometimes a challenge, but when the action picked up, it was difficult to put the book down. The author does a good job of tackling several themes within this story. I look forward to reading the sequel! I think this will be popular amongst readers that enjoy mythology and fantasy titles, including Rick Riordan fans.

A fun adventure story with wonderful mythology based characters and a main character you can't help but root for. Such a good story and enjoyable to read

Really enjoyed this action-packed middle grade adventure story from author Van Hoang!

Girl Giant and the Monkey King features Thom Ngho, a girl trying to adapt to her new town and middle school, all while dealing with a super strength she doesn't understand.

It was really interesting to have a character not be excited about super powers, but it definitely made sense for the story- Thom just wants to fit in with her classmates, and I remember feeling the same way in middle school. The stories from Vietnamese mythology were fascinating, and presented in a really fun and engaging way!

I loved the adventures Thom goes on with the Monkey King, and the way she grows as a character and comes into her own.

Definitely recommend for fans of Percy Jackson and other adventure stories!

I loved the story this follows. I studied about the Monkey King back in college and loved the perspective this gave. It was really great to see the personality that the monkey King was given, it truly hit home with his mischief and emotional manipulation. I also loved the story of coming of age and body transformation that followed the main character. I think it would hit home with a lot of girls that are just starting to feel their bodies changing

This is a wonderful middle-grade fantasy & adventure story. So many things to love: a plucky main character with an unusual gift who just wants to fit in. Vietnamese culture, mythology and language are highlighted. Humor, adventure, and a plot that moves along swiftly.

I will definitely be buying this for our school library--it's already on my next book order. And I have also nominated it for the 2021 Panda Book Awards, an international school book awards that highlight inclusion and diversity. I will be advocating for this book! It has broad appeal and will sure to delight our students.

Thom feels out of place in her new town, especially at her new middle school. She can’t imagine what everyone would think if they knew how strong she is – incredibly, destructively strong, like Boy Giant in Vietnamese mythology. She tries to fit in and hold back her amazing strength. Then the Monkey King arrives, the immortal trickster straight out of the myths. Thom wants him to help her get rid of her strength. But can she trust him? Action-packed adventure about finding your place and accepting yourself.

I have to admit, I sometimes found Thom, the main character, a bit annoying. She was rather clueless at times, and often got caught up in self-pity, but then again, that is probably an accurate portrayal of a middle school student who has moved across the country, is going to a new school, and has a body that is suddenly not responding like usual. I did like the way Buddhism and Vietnamese folklore are woven into the story. While it's not my favorite in the genre of books that blend contemporary life with mythological fantasy, I think it will find many fans among those who like the Aru Shah books.

An excellent journey into Vietnamese folklore that also does an excellent job of discussing feeling left out, bullying, and feeling different.

I enjoyed this book so much that I read it in a single sitting. Thom (pronounced Tom) is an American-born girl with a Vietnamese single mother; she has never met her father. At the beginning of the book, Thom, who is in the 7th grade, is playing soccer for her school team, and kicks a ball so hard she injures the goalie on the opposing team. Thom's strength has been increasing to superhuman levels for years, but while she has accidentally broken things for years, she has never seriously injured another person before. The rest of her team - which has not really accepted her since she moved to the school 2 months earlier - doesn't know what to think, and that includes the coach; how many small, slightly-built girls can kick a soccer ball so hard that the recipient is hospitalized with multiple broken ribs?

Thom's mother, concerned that Thom is not making friends, takes Thom to a local Vietnamese temple, where Thom finds a single hair hidden in a display. When she takes it home, it morphs into the Monkey King, a trickster demon-god from Vietnamese mythology. What follows is a grand quest, worthy of Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson, as Thom tries to decide if the Monkey God is her friend or her foe, as well as if her new neighbor, Kha, is a friend or foe, as both try to help her (or so they both say) while trying to convince her that the other is trying to use her. Along the way, Thom tries to discover a way to get rid of her superhuman strength, both from fear that she will hurt someone else and to help her fit in more. Thom also directly experiences more of the Vietnamese gods she has heard about all her life, including her missing father.

This was an enjoyable and fun read, and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys stories with strong female leads, as well as anyone who enjoys mythology.

Girl Giant and the Monkey King is a bit on the predictable side, but mostly a rollicking adventure based on Vietnamese mythology. The book also deals with the importance of family and middle school angst. Note that the final chapters take place in “heaven”, with “hells” mentioned.

What a delightful story set in Vietnamese mythology! I felt for Thom Ngo throughout the book, from her frustrations with losing her friends in CA to being in a school in Georgia where she is the odd duck and one of two Asians in the school, to having to bring "ethnic" food to lunch and being bullied by the popular, aka mean girls for standing out. Not to mention her freakish super strength, which she is trying to keep a secret. As things ramp up, she doesn't know who she can trust and that's where she eventually learns not only who she is but who she wants to be. She realizes that there are some things she can't control (like being given super strength), but she CAN control how she uses it. My only sadness about finishing this book is that it leaves you kind of hanging, although some things are resolved (like she at least figures out some of the people she can trust). This was really a great story and I can not wait for the next installment!

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I received a digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I've been reading plenty of middle grade fiction recently, thanks to being an EBOB coach and so I feel like I have some decent examples to compare this to. While the story is cute, there's something lacking about this book. Middle grade students will likely enjoy it, but there's almost too much going on with the soccer team, the neighbor boy, and the frustrations Thom faces with her culture and her overprotective mother.

This is a promising #OwnVoices debut novel and a compelling start to a series. The pacing is such that the book held my interest the entire time (though Thom and her Ma were incredibly frustrating and unlikeable at times). I loved learning more about South Vietnamese culture and mythology, and there's enough action to propel the plot forward at an often-breakneck pace. It's always tough to read a galley with a cliffhanger, but it made me even more excited to continue the series and recommend it to the library's middle-grade readers who are looking for a multicultural fantasy series.

Thom Ngho isn't like other girls. She's strong. Like, super strong. Freaky strong. Like tear-the-handle-off-a-car-door strong. Like break-a-window-closing-it strong. Like send-people-to-the-hospital-with-a-kick-of-a-soccer-ball strong. Needless to say, this is not helping her make friends in her new middle school in Georgia--far, far away from California and the Vietnamese community she grew up in. It doesn't help that her mom has been really cagey about why they moved so suddenly; sure, Ma says that she got a great paying job and found an excellent school for Thom, but how good can it be when Thom sticks out like a sore thumb as one of the only two Asian girls in school and is barely allowed off the bench at soccer games?

After a visit to the temple, Thom gets an unexpected visitor: the Monkey King himself! He is sympathetic to her troubles and befriends her, taking her on adventures to his mountain home and helping her learn to use her strength. But when the Monkey King offers to take away her strength for good, Thom leaps at the opportunity. Even though it means taking huge risks. Even though it means breaking into Heaven. Even though it means stealing from the gods. Even though it could mean she loses her life....

I found this debut middle grade novel fun and fascinating. While I am somewhat familiar with the Monkey King legends in Chinese mythology through various retellings and stories, I have never seen the Monkey King through the Vietnamese lens--providing more depth and understanding to one of the most famous (and infamous) names in Asian-based mythology. Thom is also a fascinating character, because she doesn't set out to be a hero or even recruited to be a hero like other kids in mythology retellings like this; she just wants to be a normal girl with a normal life. But it also makes her decision to be a hero all the better. She makes mistakes; she allows herself to fall into pit-traps of adolescence. Thom is growing up, and growing up is tough enough without having super-strength. But she works hard, tries her best, and always tries to do the right thing. The question is, what is the right thing to do?

"Girl Giant and the Monkey King" is a magical series-starter, one that is perfect for fans of "Aru Shah", "Percy Jackson", "The Dragon Warrior", and more!