When the Giant Stirred

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian Studies at
Concordia University and an avid outdoor recreationist. She is the
author of several books, including The Mountain Is Moving: Japanese
Women’s Lives, Kurlek and Margaret Laurence: T

“Long, long ago ...”—so many wonderful stories begin in this way.
When the Giant Stirred begins with a very blue sea, a very green island,
and a white-sand beach where great sea turtles bury their eggs in the
sand by moonlight. The illustrations are as dreamlike as the text. In
the forests of this island paradise are bright butterflies and noisy
parrots, while in the lagoon are silvery fish and wondrous creatures.

The gentle islanders enjoy peace and tranquility until one day the
mountain rumbles and belches black smoke and all the birds fly away. The
chief tells his people they must leave and find another island home
before the volcano destroys them. The island they leave behind becomes
barren, a lifeless black rock. But later, very slowly, life returns.
Tiny plants start growing in rock crevices. Coconuts are blown ashore
and take root. Month by month, year by year, plants and animals return
to the island. The lagoon becomes an underwater garden, and the giant
sea turtles come ashore again to lay their eggs in the sand at night.
Finally, the island is transformed back into the tropical paradise it
had been before. Ancient legends speak of rebirth from the sea “in an
endless cycle of destruction and renewal.”

When the Giant Stirred is a wise and beautiful book. Celia Godkin has
written and illustrated three other award-winning books, including
Ladybug Garden (1997) and Sea Otter Inlet (1997). She teaches art and
scientific illustration at the University of Toronto. Highly
recommended.