MRS. MCCOOL AND THE GIANT CUHULLIN

Souhami (No Dinner, 2000, etc.) dresses up this classic triumph of brains over brawn with bright, blocky scenes featuring broadly gesturing figures, torn paper edges and blazing purple highlights. Knowing the giant Cuhullin is stomping about the countryside bellowing, “Where is that Finn McCool? When I find him—POW! WHAM!—flat as a pancake he’ll be . . . ” Finn begs his clever wife Oona to save him. Dressed in baby clothes (a comical sight, thanks to his large, bristling mustache), Finn then watches from the cradle as Oona expertly punctures Cuhullin’s balloon with wildly exaggerated tales of her man’s might. Children who find Tomie dePaola’s well-known rendition, Fin M’Coul: The Giant of Knockmany Hill (1981) a wee bit restrained will have no such complaint here. (source note) (Picture book/folktale. 6-9)