Tales of giants have always been popular with kids of all ages, from the classic Jack and the Beanstalk to Roald Dahl’s The BFG. We’ve picked more fantastic stories with giants for kids that will send you on a real adventure!
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There is something so magical and downright fun about stories with giants – and children just love the excitement that comes with these tall tales! Our round-up of epic stories with giants for kids comes from renowned authors like Roald Dahl, Michael Morpurgo and Oscar Wilde, as well as modern favourites like Kes Gray and Julia Donaldson.
Enjoy the adventure!
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In this round-up:
- Jack and the Beanstalk
- The BFG
- Mr Noisy & the Giant
- The Iron Giant
- The Selfish Giant
- Odd and the Frost Giants
- The Smartest Giant in Town
- How Do You Feed a Hungry Giant?
- Brian & The Giant
- Daisy and the Trouble with Giants
- The Boy and the Giant
- The Stinky Giant
- Gentle Giant
- The Giant of Jum
Exciting Stories with Giants for Kids
Jack and the Beanstalk
Based on the traditional fairy tale Jack and the Beanstalk, this vibrantly illustrated story is sure to become a favourite in every home.
Jack’s mother is very angry when he swaps their only cow for some magic beans. But before Jack knows it, he is off on a big adventure!
The BFG by Roald Dahl
A true classic and one that should be in every child’s collection! The BFG (Big Friendly Giant) is no ordinary bone-crunching giant. He is far too nice and jumbly. It’s lucky for Sophie that he is. Had she been carried off in the middle of the night by the Bloodbottler, or any of the other giants rather than the BFG, she would have soon become breakfast.
When Sophie hears that the giants are heading off to England to swollomp a few nice little chiddlers, she decides she must stop them once and for all. And the BFG is going to help her!
Mr Noisy & the Giant by Roger Hargreaves
The Mr Men and Little Miss books are fantastic stories for sharing and reading with kids of all ages, full of fun adventures and quirky characters!
In Mr Noisy & the Giant, Mr. Noisy meets a very sad and lonely giant who frightens everyone with his huge voice. Can Mr. Noisy put a smile on the giant’s face?
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The Iron Giant by Ted Hughes
The Iron Giant is a modern classic. A mysterious creature stalks the land, eating barbed wire and devouring tractors and ploughs. The farmers are mystified and terrified. And then they glimpse him in the night: the Iron Giant, taller than a house, with glowing headlight eyes and an insatiable taste for metal. The hungry giant must be stopped at any cost.
Only a young boy named Hogarth is brave enough to lead the Iron Giant to a safe home. And only Hogarth knows where to turn when a space-bat as big as Australia, hungry for every living thing on Earth, darkens the sky.
The Selfish Giant by Oscar Wilde
The Selfish Giant is the classic story of a giant whose gloomy outlook and self-centred ways are changed by a remarkable tiny child.
The children loved to play in the giant’s garden, but when he returned after years away, he said, “What are you doing here?” and the children fled. All but one little boy, who crept back into the garden.
A jewel of a book, available in a beautifully illustrated edition of this beloved tale.
Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman
Odd and the Frost Giants is a humorous, rich and layered tale of a life lived courageously.
Odd’s luck has been bad so far. He lost his father on a Viking expedition, his foot was crushed beneath a tree, and the winter seems to be going on forever. But when Odd flees to the woods and releases a trapped bear, his luck begins to change. The eagle, bear and fox he encounters reveal they’re actually Norse gods, trapped in animal form by the evil frost giants who have conquered Asgard, the city of the gods. Can a twelve-year-old boy reclaim Thor’s hammer, outwit the frost giants and release the gods?
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The Smartest Giant in Town by Julia Donaldson
Julia Donaldson can’t really put a foot wrong – we love all her books in our house!
In The Smartest Giant in Town, George wished he wasn’t the scruffiest giant in town. So when he sees a new shop selling giant-sized clothes, he decides it’s time for a new look: smart trousers, smart shirt, stripy tie, shiny shoes. Now he’s the smartest giant in town… until he bumps into some animals who desperately need his help and his clothes!
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How Do You Feed a Hungry Giant? by Caitlin Friedman
In this warmly illustrated and interactive picture book, How Do You Feed a Hungry Giant?, you not only get a story but also a set of “feed a giant” recipes in a separate mini cookbook.
When a boy named Oscar discovers a giant – a very hungry giant holding a sign that says “Food Please” – in his backyard, he knows he can’t turn his back on him. Yet it’s not easy feeding a hungry giant. A whole pizza disappears in a single gulp. Twelve blueberry muffins, thirty-three jars of peanut butter, nearly two hundred chocolate chip cookies – all just an appetiser. So what is little Oscar to do? Just how do you feed a hungry giant? Mum comes to the rescue!
Brian & The Giant by Chris Judge and Mark Wickham
Brian & The Giant is the sequel to the Irish Book Award-nominated Brian and the Vikings. Strange things are happening in Brian’s village – horrible smells, no water in the river – and Brian, the smallest and cleverest boy in the village, wants to find out why.
Follow Brian and his brothers as they race across the countryside on their biggest adventure yet.
Daisy and the Trouble with Giants by Kes Gray
The MyKidsTime team are unanimous in liking the Daisy series by Kes Gray – fun for kids and parents to read together. What has Daisy gone and done this time?! In Daisy and the Trouble with Giants, Daisy has decided she wants to meet a real giant!
If Daisy met a real giant, he’d pick her up and put her on his shoulder and they’d have giant adventures! They’d eat crunchy creams as big as tractor tyres, and if she got thirsty, they’d drink giant lemonades through giant straws. It would be sooooo good! Trouble is… if you want to meet a giant, you need a magic bean. And finding magic beans can be troublesome. The trouble with giants is they really shouldn’t live at the top of magic beanstalks – because if they didn’t, Daisy is convinced she wouldn’t have got into big trouble again!
The Boy and the Giant by David Litchfield
The Boy and the Giant is a tall tale from award-winning author David Litchfield that young readers will really engage with.
There is a secret giant in Gableview who has hands the size of tabletops, legs as long as drainpipes, and feet as big as rowing boats. But little Billy thinks the giant is just a tall tale that his grandad likes to tell.
According to Grandad, the giant keeps the bears away when they go camping and rescues Billy’s favourite kite when it gets tangled up in the tallest tree. Grandad swears the giant is real, but Billy’s not buying it. Why has he never seen the giant before? Why does the giant stay hidden? Grandad knows why: people are afraid of things that look different. When Billy suddenly finds himself face-to-face with the giant, he runs away in fear – and hurts the giant’s feelings. But now he’s got an opportunity to make it up to him, and, just maybe, to be friends with the nicest guy in town.
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The Stinky Giant by Ellen Weiss
The Stinky Giant is one of the Step Into Reading series, designed to give every child a successful early reading experience.
Pepper and Jake love herding sheep in the little valley where they live. But there’s a big problem: Urk, a giant who lives on a nearby mountain, is big and stinky and doesn’t care that dumping dirty laundry water in the nearby stream causes a flood down below every single week.
So Pepper and Jake hike to Urk’s mountaintop lair to confront him. But there’s no reasoning with a giant, especially one who gives cryptic puzzles to solve. If the kids can solve it, Urk will move away. If not, Pepper and Jake (and their sheep) will be the featured ingredients in Urk’s next bowl of smelly soup!
Gentle Giant by Michael Morpurgo
Gentle Giant is a powerful folktale about a lonely giant who lives by a beautiful lake. When he saves a girl from drowning, the giant finds the love and courage to save the lake from destruction.
On a small island way out in the middle of a silver lake there once lived a sad young man. He was sad because he had grown into a giant of a man – very big, very strong and very frightening. Because of this, no one liked to go near him. So his only friends were the wild creatures all around him.
Then one day, he saves a girl from drowning, a girl in a wide-brimmed straw hat. Little does he know how she is going to change his life forever.
Michael Morpurgo draws on traditional storytelling to weave a tale of extraordinary relevance to our own world today – a story of compassion, love, and a simple belief in the healing powers of nature.
The Giant of Jum by Elli Woollard
“Fee!” he said, and “Fi!” he said, and “Fo!” he said and “Fum!”
Look out, children – the Giant of Jum is grumpy and hungry and he’s off in search of a tasty snack. And the tastiest of all is a boy called Jack! But Jack and his friends don’t see a scary giant, they see a magically tall man – a man who can fetch lost balls and rescue cats from trees! Perhaps this hungry giant is softer than he seems…
The Giant of Jum is a wonderful rhyming tale and a brilliant, big-hearted twist on a classic fairy tale – and it carries an important message for all: don’t eat kids, eat cake!
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Frequently Asked Questions
What age are giant stories suitable for?
Most of these stories work well for children roughly aged 3 to 10, though it really depends on the book. Picture books like Jack and the Beanstalk, Mr Noisy & the Giant and The Smartest Giant in Town suit younger children, while longer reads like The BFG, Odd and the Frost Giants and Gentle Giant are better suited to confident readers or as a shared read-aloud with older kids.
What’s a good first giant story to read with young children?
Jack and the Beanstalk or The Smartest Giant in Town are gentle, well-loved starting points, with simple stories and plenty of charm for first-time listeners.
Are these giant stories based on traditional tales, or are they all new stories?
It’s a mix. Some, like Jack and the Beanstalk and The Selfish Giant, are classic tales retold and beautifully illustrated. Others, like The Iron Giant, The BFG and The Giant of Jum, are original stories written specifically for children, often putting a fresh, funny spin on the traditional “giant” theme.
Where can I find more adventure stories for kids?
Have a browse of our other book round-ups linked throughout this article, or sign up to our newsletter for regular reading recommendations sent straight to your inbox.
More From MyKidsTime
If your kids loved these giant tales, you might also enjoy:
- 100 Best Bedtime Stories for Kids Recommended by Parents
- These Humorous Books for Kids Are All Good for a Giggle
- 15 Weird and Wonderful Neil Gaiman Books Your Child Will Love
- 10 Great Julia Donaldson Books
- Goodnight Moon and More Marvellous Moon-Themed Books for Kids
- You’ll Love These 10 Ingenious Ideas for Kids Book Storage
Why not bookmark this page or share it with another giant-loving family, so it’s easy to find again next time you’re picking a bedtime story?
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