Mollie Whuppie and the Giant

by Robin Muller

A poor woodcutter's youngest daughter outwits a giant and wins royal husbands for herself and her sisters.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens

36 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

He was an enterprising child who began his own small publishing house at the age of eight. His passion for storytelling continued into high school where he started a second, competing school paper named Exodus. Muller's paper featured creative writing by students including short stories, poetry, book reviews and paid advertising. Muller left high school at sixteen to make his living as an artist, in the Yorkville section of downtown Toronto. Muller enjoyed the six years he spent painting because "Art is self-indulgent as opposed to publishing books. Only one person has to buy a painting for it to be successful". (Writing Stories, Making Pictures, 234) Gradually, his interest in the fine arts waned and Robin Muller began looking for a new creative outlet. With his interest in narrative revived, he sought out a medium where he could marry his storytelling and illustrating abilities.

Muller's interest in children's books began in his teens, when he worked in a publisher's warehouse. He found the children's books so fascinating that he decided to try to write and illustrate his own book. However, his first book, Rupert's Star, was rejected by every publisher he sent it to. Disappointed by the publishers' responses, Muller waited ten years before he attempted another book. Muller was twenty-nine when his second book The Sorcerer's Apprentice, appeared in bookstores.

Reviews

[Amy Stanford]

One of my favorite childhood books! Love that the main character is a smart, brave young girl who lives her life on her terms 💪🏼
Love that I get to read it with my kids too. I only wish I could find the recording that I had and read along with when I was a kid!

[Lynn Davidson]

Mollie Whuppie and her two older sisters were left in the forest to fend for themselves. Upon finding a huge old house in which lived a mean giant and his wife, Mollie Whuppie tricked the giant so they could escape. They find a castle, whose king asked Mollie to take some magical things from the giant for great reward. The illustrations for this wonderful retelling are fabulous.

[Shayiri Kowlassur]

A great read

[Elfdart]

mollie whuppie is a strong and smart heroine that courageously goes about accomplishing tasks others fear. in this story she and her sisters are lost in a forest and make their way to a giant’s house. this giant has caused a lot of trouble for travellers and people in the area because he’s so vicious. the giant plans on killing them but mollie outwits the giant to get herself and her sisters to safety at a nearby castle. the king asks mollie to go back to the giant a couple of times to get some things the giant has stolen and each time she’s successful one of her sisters marries someone in the king’s court. at the end the giant dies and mollie gets engaged to the prince, but doesn’t marry him as she goes off to have adventures.
this is a great story with a strong, proactive heroine. mollie never hesitates, she’e always confident and courageous and charges head forward to get things done. this book is great to read out loud as well as there are catchy rhymes that break up the prose, though that’s pretty easy to read as well. the pictures were expressive too. a fun book.

[Lauren]

Childhood favourite! Had to add to my own children's library.

[Erin]

Excellent

[Saffron Moon]

This rating is for the edition adapted and illustrated by Robin Muller.