CRISTINA BOTTA, is a good friend who lives in Turin, Italy.She is a multitalented, well-known poet, writer, and artist. We usually exchange notes in French, she because she loves that language, I, thanks to Google Translate.
Cristina recently discovered a French translation of a book called The Book of Giant Stories and asked if I wrote it. I told her it came out in 1972 and was co-published in the United States and the U.K. The following year the book won a Christopher Medal and many translations followed.
Although the artist, PHILIPPE FIX, is French, I told Cristina she might also find an edition in Italian. I think that translation came out the same year as the French one. Both were issued before Cristina was born. I love it when new friends meet old friends of mine.
I’m delighted to say that I’ve just given permission to a teacher in Cedar Rapids, Iowa to use a story from THE BOOK OF GIANT STORIES (The Giant Who Threw Tantrums) in a puppet show in May.
This will be part of a Steam Academy project to involve students in an after-school program in puppetry. The project requires that the students’ involvement includes a performance. This will involve third and fourth graders. Does this sound like fun or what!
THE BOOK OF GIANT STORIES was published in 1972 so I’m tickled every time I’m asked about using work from it. Last year stories from the book were used in anthologies in France and South Africa. I think there are twelve translations of the original stories here and there around the globe.
On May 13, I reported that a South African publisher was interested in including “The Little Boy’s Secret” from THE BOOK OF GIANT STORIES in an upcoming book for 4th grade Afrikaans-speaking students.
I’m pleased to say that I’ve now signed the agreement and look forward to seeing the new book in print. Publisher is Pearson South Africa in Cape Town. The book will be in print and electronic with up to 50,000 copies print and 10,000 electronic/digital.
I just did a fast scan of records and counted 31 previous reprints of stories from THE BOOK OF GIANT STORIES since it first appeared in 1972. The original book sold 780,000 copies in hardback and book club in a dozen languages. I have no way to know how many children have read some part of the book in the fifty years since then, but I think the number could rival or surpass the original number.
I became curious about other places where poems and stories from THE BOOK OF GIANT STORIES have appeared in anthologies, textbooks, and other venues so I did a quick copy and paste search. I haven’t updated the full list of secondary uses from my published books since 2016 so it’s rather out of date. I know the grand total for everything exceeds 200 but it takes an enormous amount of time to update and I never seem to think I have the time to spare. Anyway, here’s what I found for GIANTS.
Photo by Nathan Papes, Springfield News-Leader
THE BOOK OF GIANT STORIES
APPEARANCES IN ANTHOLOGIES
1976 The Little Boy’s Secret from The Book of Giant Stories
Tapestry (1976). By 4 editors. Houghton Mifflin Company.
1978 The Book of Giant Stories
Honey for a Child’s Heart Revised (1978). By Gladys Hunt. Zondervan.
1978 The Little Boy’s Secret from The Book of Giant Stories
Step Right Up! Scott, Foresman Basics in Reading (1978). By several editors. Scott, Foresman and Company.
1985 The Giant Who Threw Tantrums from The Book of Giant Stories
Dream Keepers (1985). By 4 editors. McGraw-Hill Ryerson.
1985 A Careless Giant from The Book of Giant Stories
Expressways, A Basal Language Program Level 5 (1985). By Lois Brown Easton and Marvin Klein. The Economy Company.
1986 The Giant Who Threw Tantrums from The Book of Giant Stories
Discoveries (1986). Numerous editors. Houghton Mifflin.
1986 The Little Boy’s Secret from The Book of Giant Stories
The Happy Birthday Book (1986). By David Jackson. Oxford University Press.
1987 Den Lille Guttens Hemmelighet (The Little Boy’s Secret) from The Book of Giant Stories Den Stopre Godnatt Boka (1987). By Ellen Seip Stubbe and Turid Opsahl.
1988 The Giant Who Threw Tantrums from The Book of Giant Stories
A Treasury of Dragons, Giants and Monsters (1988). By Caroline Royds. Kingfisher Book.
1989 The Little Boy’s Secret from The Book of Giant Stories
Super Stories for the Very Young (1989). By Sally Grindley. Kingfisher.
1989 The Little Boy’s Secret from The Book of Giant Stories
More Stories for the Very Young (1989). By Sally Grindley. Kingfisher.
1989 Der Kleine Junge und sein Geheimnis (The Little Boy’s Secret) from The Book of Giant Stories
Komm, erzahl mir was! (1989). By Agnes Niegl. Bundesverlag.
1989 There Once Was a Giant Named Groans from The Book of Giant Stories
1989 The Giant Who Threw Tantrums from The Book of Giant Stories
Houghton Mifflin Literary Readers Book 2 (1989). By several editors. Houghton Mifflin Company.
1990 The Little Boy’s Secret from The Book of Giant Stories
Listening Tapes (1990). By Bill Moore and Mary Moore. Ginn :Publishing Canada.
1990 The Giant Who Threw Tantrums from The Book of Giant Stories
A Treasury of Stories for Five Year Olds (1990). By Edward and Nancy Blishen. Kingfisher Books.
1991 The Giant Who Threw Tantrums from The Book of Giant Stories
Stories for Bedtime (1991). By Fiona Waters. Orchard.
1991 The Little Boy’s Secret from The Book of Giant Stories
A Bucketful of Stories for Six Year Olds (1991). By Pat Thomson. Doubleday.
1991 The Giant Who Threw Tantrums from The Book of Giant Stories
Tick Tock Tales, 3 Minute Stories (1991). By Sian Hardy. Rainbow Books.
1992 The Giant Who Threw Tantrums from The Book of Giant Stories
A Treasury of Giant and Monster Stories (1992). By Jane Olliver. Kingfisher.
1992 The Book of Giant Stories, cited
Hey! Listen to This! Stories to Read Aloud (1992). By Jim Trelease. New York, New York: Penguin Books.
1992 Kleine Jongen Heeft Een Geheim (The Little Boy’s Secret) from The Book of Giant Stories
De Verhalentuin, Verhalen voor Jonge Kinderen (1992). By Bregje Boonstra. Ploegsma.
1992 The Giant Who Threw Tantrums from The Book of Giant Stories
The Kingfisher Treasury of Stories for Children (1992). By Nancy and Edward Blishen. Kingfisher Books.
1994 The Giant Who Threw Tantrums from The Book of Giant Stories
The Oxford Treasury of Children’s Stories (1994). By Michael Harrison and Christopher Stuart-Clark. Oxford University Press.
1998 The Giant Who Threw Tantrums from The Book of Giant Stories
Houghton Mifflin, Spelling and Vocabulary (1998). By Shane Templeton.
1999 Little Boy’s Secret
Magical Stories for 6 Year Olds. By Helen Paiba. MacMillan U.K.
2000 The Giant Who Threw Tantrums from The Book of Giant Stories
Magical Stories for 5 Year Olds (2000). By Helen Paiba. Macmillan.
2001 The Giant Who Threw Tantrums from The Book of Giant Stories
Dynamic English Grade 5 (2001). By Gus de Villiers, Helene Strauss, and Sylvia van Straaten. Kagiso Education.
2002 From The Book of Giant Stories
Hey! Listen to This: Stories to Read (2002). By Jim Trelease. Penguin.
2003 The Giant Who Threw Tantrums from The Book of Giant Stories
The Kingfisher Treasury of Monster Stories (2003). By Jane Olliver and Annabel Spencely. Kingfisher.
2004 The Giant Who Threw Tantrums from The Book of Giant Stories
Kingfisher Stories for Five Year Olds (2004). By Edward Blishen, Nancy Blishen, and Polly Noakes. Kingfisher
2005 The Giant Who Threw Tantrums
The Kingfisher Treasury of Giant and Monster Stories. By Jane Oliver and Annabel Spenceley. Kingfisher Books, Ltd.
2009 The Book of Giant Stories
Pan Books: Webster’s Timeline History, 1935-2007. Icon Group
International.
2010 Book of Giant Stories
Honey for a Child’s Heart: The Imaginative Use of Books in Family Life (2010). By Gladys Hunt. Zondervan.
THE BOOK OF GIANT STORIES sold about 700,000 copies in hardback, mostly through Book Club. It was translated into a dozen languages and sold especially well in Japan. I have no way to know how many copies the books on this list sold. Initial printings have ranged from a few thousand to 50,000 or more. I used to be contacted now and then by story tellers wanting to arrange for permission to include stories from the book in their programs. One was a singer. There was also a symphonic composer. That hasn’t happened lately. I suspect that some story tellers assume that the book has been around so long it must have fallen into public domain. I’ve heard The Little Boy’s Secret described as a classic, as in passed down through the ages. Okay, I’m old, but really people!It won a Christopher Medal (which I’m fond of repeating) but never received another award.
I’ve been queried about granting rights to an Afrikaans translation of “The Little Boy’s Secret,” the first of three stories in THE BOOK OF GIANT STORIES. Afrikaans is spoken in South Africa, Namibia, and, to a lesser extent, Botswana, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. It will appear in an educational book for 4th grade students, if I have it right. Initial printing is to be 50,000 copies. I’ve had other work published by the company, which is based in Cape Town. I’ll provide a few more details when I’m free to. The request is for nonexclusive rights to use the story for ten years.
I’m so pleased to see work from this book still finding its way to children in the United States and abroad. It was first published in 1972 in the U.S. by American Heritage Press and co-published in England. The next year was when it won a Christopher Medal. In 2001, Boyds Mills Press republished it. And now, on its half-century birthday, a new audience of kids in Africa will meet the boy with a secret and learn what it is.I don’t know how many times stories and limericks from THE BOOK OF GIANT STORIES have been anthologized. Many. I hope to reach an agreement soon on this most recent request.
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