The Giant Surprise: A Narnia Story    by Hiawyn Oram & Tudor Humphries Order:  USA  Can HarperCollins, 2005 (2005) Hardcover Read an Excerpt     Reviewed by Hilary Williamson The Giant Surprise was written by Hiawyn Oram. Though 'inspired by the stories of C. S. Lewis', it doesn't much resemble them, except in Tudor Humphries' glorious illustrations, which do conjure up the magic of Narnia. One 'otherwise peaceful morning', we're invited to 'splash through muddy marshlands, home to the web-footed, web-fingered Marsh-wiggles' including the famous Puddleglum and his niece Lally. Two 'not-so-clever' giants have invaded the marshes. When they hook mice Greep and Graypaw on their fishing lines, Puddleglum ('who knew the land like the back of his hand') follows with Lally as far as the giants' gorge. Though they try to question the two micenappers there, these giants have short attention spans. It's up to the little Wigglet to entertain the monsters while her uncle locates and rescues the missing mice - and Lally does so in a creative manner. It's a cute story with hints of more to come, as Puddleglum muses, 'So what's next, I wonder. Ogres? Dragons?' We'll just have to wait and see. Note: Opinions expressed in reviews and articles on this site are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of BookLoons. Find more Kids books on our Shelves or in our book Reviews