Type Book
Date 1986
Tags picture book, children's book, fiction

Mickey Meets the Giant

Disney Fun-to-Read Library

Mickey Meets the Giant puts Mickey Mouse in the shoes of a number of classic folk tale heroes, similar in particular to The Valiant Little Tailor (not an unfamiliar role for Mickey).

In this story, Mickey is a woodcutter, and when he goes into a town to get his axe sharpened, he hears that a giant has been terrorizing the town, and offers to stop him. At length, the townspeople send him off with the supplies he's requested: a bag, a drinking straw, and a cheese.

He tricks the giant into solving some of the problems he's caused, and then challenges the giant to see who can squeeze the most water from a stone (this is Aarne-Thompson type 1060). The giant can't squeeze out any, but Mickey pretends the cheese is a stone, and squeezes whey from it. Seeing this, the giant is frightened of Mickey, and ran away. The town is saved, and Mickey is a hero.

The story is great--I'm a sucker for retellings of classic folk tales, and I definitely support exposing children to these stories that are the foundations of so much modern literature.

The illustrations are lovely and colorful. As expected of a children's book, it's quite possible to understand the story just by looking at the pictures.

Mickey Meets the Giant is a great, fun book for kids.

Character Type
Mickey Mouse Main