I’ve written a book! I know, that shouldn’t be surprising, because I am a writer… But I’ve been struggling with long covid since March 2020, so I’m doing everything very slowly right now. Which means that I’m almost as surprised and delighted about this book appearing on the shelves as I was about my very first novel getting published!
And it’s not a wee small quiet kind of book either. It’s a GREAT BIG LOUD GIANT BOOK! With great big huge giants shouting, stomping, shaking the earth, throwing rocks, having arguments, and also … running away when they’re scared, and dressing up as babies.
It’s the Tall Tale of the Giants’ Causeway, a retelling of the traditional folktale about Irish giant Finn McCool and Scottish giant Benandonner, and how their daft arguments lead them to build a rocky causeway between Scotland and Ireland. It’s also the story of how Finn’s clever wife Oona gets everyone to the end of the story without a fight or worse injury than a bitten finger. It has teddies, tricks and superbly hairy eyebrows!
It also has spectacular illustrations, by debut illustrator Emilie Gill. It was a tough challenge, asking her to make these giants comical (to fit with the folktale) but also splendid (to fit with the glorious illustrations in other books in the series, like the Secret of the Kelpie and the Legend of the First Unicorn).
It’s always a nerve-wracking moment for an author, seeing their precious characters in the illustrator’s sketches for the first time, but when I saw these pictures, I know Emilie had captured Finn and Benandonner perfectly!
This is the first re-telling I’ve done with Floris Books which isn’t set only in Scotland. It’s based on an Irish folktale, with one Scottish character, so just like the giants’ causeway in the book, it links Scotland and Ireland across the sea. And because it’s a story set in both countries, starring giants from both countries, I’ve tried to make it a bit more balanced than the original tales. The original tends to end when the Irish giants ‘win’, but I kept the story going a wee bit longer, so that everyone could find a satisfying ending.
You’d think that basing a story on an existing traditional tale would mean that at least I wouldn’t have to spend time choosing character names. But almost every single version of the story I found had different spellings for Finn McCool, and there were a couple of different possible names for his wife (Oona / Oonagh or Grainne) and an absolute confusion of possible names for the Scottish giant (Far Rua, Goll, Benandonner, Cucullin…). So, along with all the other decisions I usually have to make when retelling a trad tale in picture book form (where to begin, where to end, how much peril and danger can I get away with for this age group, how much backstory and motivation do we need, how do I make it short enough to fit in a picture book and still make sense, does the language work when read out loud, how can I structure the narrative to give the artist the opportunity to draw as many spectacular pictures as possible…?) I also had to choose what names to give the giants. Eventually, my editor and I went with simplest spelling of Finn McCool, the most commonly used name for Oona, and most fun to say out loud name for Benandonner…
Usually, when a nice shiny new book comes out, I visit lots of schools and libraries and book festivals and caves and causeways to share the story and hear your ideas, but long covid means that I can’t get out and about very much. So my publishers and I have created a virtual event, with me reading the book, showing you Emilie’s amazing giants and giving you some tips about writing your own giant stories. If you’re interested in watching the event, please email me on info@laridon.co.uk
I’m children’s writer, and I write this blog mainly for children – readers, young writers, school classes, book groups etc, who want to understand how a writer writes. Everyone else welcome too though! And please do comment if you have any questions, or want me to blog about anything specific.
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