THE GIANTS' FARM Illustrated by Tomie dePaola Putnams 1977 ISBN# 0-8164-3193-0 Seabury hardcover ISBN# 0-8164-3193-0 Starstream paperback

The 1970's was a time of a great upsurge in children's publishing, and everyone was trying easy readers. This little book--and its sequel THE GIANTS GO CAMPING--were both my entry into that particular genre. The five giants live on Fe-Fi-Fo-Farm which is what I wanted to call our farm when we first moved here. (We ended up naming it Phoenix Farm, but at the urging of my children, I used the other name in a book!) Tomie's pictures manage to look like--Tomie! But the characters are really a metaphoric Yolen-Stemple family.

The paperback edition was done as part of a marketing study to see if certain children's books could be sold in drugstores and supermarkets like stockings. The Haynes people developed this line; they decided that a million copies was not worth their while. There was little or no money for the author and illustrator. It was--after all--a test.

       Out of print.

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