1. Animal welfare
2. Art motifs
3. Book design
4. Ecosystems
5. Endpapers
6. Environmental destruction
7. Fables
8. Imagination
9. Kindness
10. Narrative techniques
11. Nature
12. Perspectives (Art)
13. Religion
14. Respect
15. Sacrifice
16. Sadness
17. Trees
18. Visual literacy

‘Once I was a Giant’ is, in many ways, an unusual book that tells, in a gentle, calm almost mesmerising way, a powerful and important story.

The story begins on the front endpaper with a view of a large apartment block in which a solitary light glows. This light belongs to the picture-book maker who every night dances with the narrator across paper, until one night he runs out of ideas. Suddenly the narrator speaks, it is the artist’s pencil who says ‘I have a story to tell.

And so begins the story of the pencil’s life growing up and into a gigantic tree in a vast forest. Their roots connecting them to everything and dancing and shimmering in the light and warmth of the sun. She tells of an unexpected friendship with a wanderer who brings songs and stories and whose visits the tree looks forward to and how one day the wanderer returns early, afraid, machines were coming. The tree asks him to lead the birds and insects who sheltered in their roots and branches to safety. She tells of being cut and shaped into a thousand and one different things but the pencil part dearly wishes they could grow again and in their heart they know that the wanderer would return and restore the natural balance – and we are shown that he did.

This is an unusual book in many ways. The use of personification in making a pencil the story’s female narrator provides an interesting vision of the nurturing and fecund nature of the forest and a discussion point as does the biographical style use of past tense in the book’s title.

The book’s layout is intriguing from the lack of the traditional title page to the narrative’s commencement on the opening endpaper the book’s layout and design is different and original.

The artwork is realistic in style with a colour palette that reflects the story’s moods darker blues and purples at times of sadness or despair and brighter lighter greens and blues of nature for the lushness of the forest. This contrast is shown clearly in the double-page foldout spread with destruction on the outside and the wonderous rewilding in lush greens and purples inside. There are a number of wordless pages, and artwork presented like a photo album capturing significant narrative moments and the wondrous wordless finale of the story.

In an afterword Zeno Sworder explains the importance of nature, particularly trees to him. He that in this story he ‘aims to bring trees alive for young people by telling an imaginative story rooted in recent scientific discoveries about the social lives of trees and their abilities to communicate, learn and feel. The story covers the entire span of an individual tree’s life and the intimate relationships it shares with the forest and the creatures that it nourishes and houses.’

He dedicates this book to the Indigenous peoples of the world ‘whose enduring wisdom and care continues to nurture this living earth.’

Winner - Children’s Literature prize- Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards 2026

1. Thames & Hudson Teaching notes by Christina Wheeler for ‘Once I was a Giant’ by Zeno Sworder https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5e5f30e3787c2935ff5ce667/t/68b786720e741e6d280eaedc/1756857970576/Once+I+was+a+Giant_Teachers%27+Notes.pdf
2. Thames & Hudson 2 October 2025. ‘Q&A with Zeno Sworder’ https://thamesandhudson.com.au/blogs/all-news-features/q-a-with-zeno-sworder-author-of-once-i-was-a-giant
3. Paper Bark Words Blog 9 April 2026. Joy Lawn interviews Zeno Sworder on his book ‘Once I was a Giant’ https://paperbarkwords.blog/2026/04/09/once-i-was-a-giant-by-zeno-sworder/
4. Momo Time to Read blog19 September 2025. ‘Once I was a Giant’ by Zeno Sworder http://momotimetoread.blogspot.com/2025/09/once-i-was-giant-by-zeno-sworder.html
5. Momo Time to Read 21 Sept 2025. ‘Meet the illustrator Zeno Sworder’ https://momotimetoread.blogspot.com/2025/09/meet-illustrator-zeno-sworder.html
6. Kids’ Book Review 7 Jan 2025. Dimity Powell reviews ‘Once I was Giant’ by Zeno Sworder http://www.kids-bookreview.com/2026/01/review-once-i-was-giant.html
7. Zeno Sworder introduces ‘Once I was a Giant’ https://www.youtube.com/shorts/CQ3DZxvew0o
8. Play and Go Adelaide 22 October 2025 review of ‘Once I was Giant’ by Zeno Sworder https://playandgo.com.au/once-i-was-a-giant-zeno-sworder/
9. The Guardian 13 Sept 2016. ‘The man who thinks trees talk to each other’ https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/sep/12/peter-wohlleben-man-who-believes-trees-talk-to-each-other
10. National Geographic ‘Taoism’ (also known as Daoism) https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/taoism/
11. YouTube ‘The Hidden Language of Forests: How Forests Secretly Communicate’ 45+mins https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOFPqbvD-vE