The Giant Surprise: A Narnia Story

by Hiawyn Oram, C.S. Lewis (Inspired by), Tudor Humphries (Illustrator)

Narnia:a world made by magic from the start of time,
full of marvelous creatures, talking beasts,
and trees that sometimes get up and dance.

And now the door to this magical world is opened again with a brand-new story. Based on beloved characters introduced by C. S. Lewis in The Chronicles of Narnia, The Giant Surprise presents a new adventure specially created for much younger children.

Now pull on your boots . . . and splash through the muddy marshlands, home to the web-footed, web-fingered Marsh-wiggles. Meet Puddleglum, the most famous of them all. Get to know his niece, Lally, the brave little Wigglet, as together they help the marsh mice challenge the roaring, rock-throwing, not-so-clever giants of Shribble Gorge!

Genres: Childrens, Fantasy, Picture Books

40 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2005

About the author

Hiawyn Oram is a very successful author of children's books in Britain. Her books include the popular Not-So-Grizzly Bear Stories, the Animal Heroes series, and Mona the Vampire. She lives in London.

Reviews

[E & E’s Mama · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although this is only loosely inspired by The Silver Chair (book 6 of the Narnia series) with Puddleglum as the only character from the novel who is in this picture book. That said, it still feels like a Narnia book, with the marches and giants of Etttinsmoor (only a small section of The Silver Chair) taking center stage, new fun characters, and Puddleglum’s witty gloomy phrases. Elliot couldn’t get enough of it since he’s been really interested in the Narnia books.

A bit long, so it’s probably best for preschool and up.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

My girl got this for her birthday a couple years ago and recently started wanting to read it. We've read it every night for a week. She loves saying the "Yum! Yum! Yum!" parts and thinks the giants are so funny. Highly recommended.

[Joy Gerbode · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a cute Narnia story for younger readers! Wish there was a whole series of these!

[Carin Meerdink · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lovely illustrations. Story was somewhat lame, certainly not Narnia caliber.

[Cindi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun new adventure with some old Narnia friends. A simple and quick read and a valuable addition to any Narnia collection.

[Anna Marie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Garbage illustrations of skeletal humanoid characters in a story *NONE* of my kids liked. We're C.S. Lewis fans, but this was swill. Going A.W.A.Y.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a little random, but had a good story at heart. The theme was friendship but it was told in a very creative way, with the main characters being a Narnia creature called Puddleglum the Marsh-wiggle and his niece a young Wigglet named Lally. They have to save their friends the marsh mice from the evil giants who want to eat them. I thought the illustrations were very engaging and fun, though it seemed more like a Philip Pullman or L.Frank Baum book rather than a C.S. Lewis story. Recommended for ages 4-8, 3 stars.

[Kaytee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book. I loved the pictures that were on every page to help my imagination for the story. I liked how the book caught my attention but was short enough that I didn't get distracted. I learned that friendship is a great deal and that no matter what size you are, big or small, we should care for others.

[Zoe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Link to Narnia not very satisfying.

[Hilary · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cute book for kids. My 5 year old enjoyed it more than my 3 year old. We loved the pictures.