1. Alienation
2. Art techniques
3. Book design
4. Compassion
5. Design
6. Empathy
7. Endpapers
8. Fables
9. Fear
10. Floods
11. Friendship
12. Imagery
13. Kindness
14. Memory
15. Perspectives (Art)
16. Sadness
17. Visual literacy

‘The Giant’ appears in silhouette on the jacket cover, looming large, tromping down a mountainous landscape. Where is he coming from? Where is he going? Like a hibernating bear, the giant has awakened from a very long sleep, a sleep so long that everyone in the village below has forgotten him. Instead of remembering his kindly nature, they scatter in fear. Saddened, the giant sheds tears that flood the town. Two children shout at the giant — ‘Stop! Wait!’ They remembered the giant appearing in an old book and invite him to play. Together the trio create boats to sail in the giant’s river of tears. This jubilant activity slowly draws out the village inhabitants and together they rediscover their friendship.

‘The Giant’ uses a familiar literary form, the fable—a simple story with a deeper meaning. Here are age-old themes of friendship, inclusion and working together. Thoughtful readers will pour over ‘The Giant’s’ two sets of endpapers – the opening set foretells the story while the final endpapers reveal the highly satisfying finale. Author and illustrator here are a perfect match, each adding rich layers to the story. Words are deceptively simple while the illustrations add multiple layers.

For a similar story experience by this duo, the picture book, ‘Satin’ (MidnightSun, 2023), also features in this database here https://www.ncacl.org.au/pbor-database/satin/

Lorena Carrington’s works are created using photography and digital montage techniques. Her richly layered images are mesmerising and invite close examination. Carrington describes her illustration style as many-layered photographic montage, often using silhouettes and natural elements. The teaching resources selected for this book offer additional details about the illustrator’s sophisticated techniques.

Lorena Carrington is recipient of the 2020 Australian Fairy Tale Society award, for her ‘outstanding contribution to the field of Australian Fairy Tales’. Her art deepens fairy and folk tales in mesmerising ways.

1. CKT Speakers Agency profile of Sophie Masson https://cktspeakersagency.com.au/speakers/sophie-masson/
2. Ask the Author: Lara Cain Gray interviews Lorena Carrington https://storylinks.booklinks.org.au/2024/07/03/ask-the-author-lorena-carrington/
3. Reading Time 29 July 2025 review by Gaby Meares of ‘The Giant’ https://readingtime.com.au/the-giant/
4. ReadPlus 28 Jul 2025 review by Kathryn Beilby of ‘The Giant’ https://www.readplus.com.au/reviews/the-giant
5. ASA Style File Profile of Lorena Carrington https://asastylefile.com/illustrator/lorena-carrington/
6. Kids’ Book Review 26 Sept 2024 ‘Meet the Illustrator: Lorena Carrington’ http://www.kids-bookreview.com/2024/09/meet-illustrator-lorena-carrington.html
7. WordMothers — for women writers and women writing 13 Nov 2020 ‘What every writer needs to know about working with an illustrator’ — guest post by Lorena Carrington https://wordmothers.com/tag/lorena-carrington/
8. Lorena Carrington’s website profiles her work https://lorenacarrington.com/
9. Scholastic Australia Teaching notes for ‘The Giant’ by Sophie Masson and Lorena Carrington https://resource.scholastic.com.au/ResourceFiles/100145407_132298.pdf