Letters to a Giant - Patricia Forde - ★★★★.¼

AUTHOR: Patricia Forde

ILLUSTRATOR: Sarah Warburton

GENRE: Children's Epistolary Picture Book.

PUBLICATION DATE: June 4, 2026

RATING: 4.25 stars.

In a Nutshell: A cute epistolary picture book with a lot of humour and life lessons. Gorgeous illustrations as well. A bit too reminiscent of Roald Dahl’s “The BFG”, but a fun read nonetheless. Recommended.

Plot Preview:

When young Sophie is sitting in her tree house and writing invitations for her birthday party, one of the invites flies out on a gust of wind and lands a long way away in the hands of a giant. Imagine Sophie’s horror when the giant happily accepts her invite. What if he turns up and eats all her guests? So she writes a polite letter back, trying to dissuade him from attending her *boring* party. But Harry the Hairy Giant is sure he will enjoy himself. How does Sophie get out of this accidental mess?

There are three reasons why I picked up this book, and all of these are present on the cover:

1. The adorable artwork. Who can resist such human-made art!

2. The word “Letters”. I love epistolary works, but they are so rare in picture books. I wanted to see how this book handles letters in this day and age when texting is more common and letter-writing is a dying (dead?) art.

3. The word ”Giant”. The BFG is one of my all-time favourite characters and among the very few children’s books to have a friendly giant. I hoped to find one more kid-friendly giant.

Happy to announce that all three motivations of mine were suitably and satisfyingly met though this lovely picture book!

The story is quite simple and even straightforward. Most people will figure out how it will end, perhaps not the actual details but at least the direction of the plot. The letters are the game-changer.

Sophie is a sweet character. Seeing her trying valiantly to change Harry’s decision is quite funny, though I did feel sorry for her at the start. I love how she never forgets her manners and is always polite in her letters despite her apprehensions.

Harry is also wonderful, and even jollier than I had assumed. He has plenty of things in common with Dahl’s BFG, including the habit of speaking in coined words. I am not a big fan of neologisms in kids’ books as children cannot distinguish between real words and random concocted words. But I cannot deny that the Harry’s fancy new words are still fun, though perhaps not as hilarious as Dahl’s lexical coinage. Children will definitely enjoy the comical expressions more.

(Coming to think of it, the lead child character in ‘The BFG’ was also named Sophie. I wonder if this book is meant as some sort of homage to the classic! 🤔)

The letters exchanged by the two characters are the best part of the book. Sophie’s letters especially have a lot to teach kids. For instance, she never writes her apprehensions about Harry’s attendance in the party but talks about how HE might not be happy if he attends. That’s a masterclass in the art of persuasion right there! Her unfailing politeness is also worth appreciating. I hope that children also learn how some people just don’t understand subtle hints and don’t take a soft ‘no’ seriously, so they need to be more open about their feelings. Sophie was lucky that Harry was a good giant, else her understated “please don’t come for your sake” could have jeopardised her party.

The writing style is quite nice, with a nice mix of general text and letters. There is good use of CAPS to denote emphasis. Most of the words are common and easy for kids to understand, the only exceptions being the coined words. A part of me wishes that the epistles had been written in cursive so they would look more like actual letters, but I understand how most children today cannot read cursive penmanship because of schools’ insistence on print script. (Isn't that sad? 😢)

The illustrations are gorgeous. There is so much intricate detailing on every single page, both in the foreground and in the background. I love Sophie’s curly hair and long eyelashes. I also appreciate Harry’s portrayal. He isn't sketched the way most giants in children’s fiction are depicted. Ugly, lumbering giants are passé!

Overall, this is a great picture book that offers entertainment and education in equal measure. The letters, the illustrations, and the characters make it a fun reading choice while the various life lessons coming through the interactions offer loads of discussion opportunities.

Definitely recommended. Given the potential this book has for learning and fun, it would be a great option for children aged 4-8. (For some odd reason, Amazon and Edelweiss have this marked as a book for kids aged 0-5 years. I think it would be wasted on most babies and toddlers.) This is the kind of book that would work wonderfully in homes as well as classrooms and libraries.

My thanks to Bloomsbury Children's Books for providing the DRC of “Letters to a Giant” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.