James, while sleeping safely in his bed, is awoken my Mildred, a magical woman, and taken on an adventure into a fairy-tale land. At a dream like castle James befriends a princess who is burdened by great loneliness and a christening curse. A bad fairy had cursed the princess and it was now her fate to marry a toad. Understandably upset by the thought of a toad as a husband, the princess runs away and seeks help in breaking her curse. This is when she finds James who decides to help her. But what has all this to do with giants?

Are All The Giants Dead? James is about to discover the answer to this question as he goes against good advice and involves himself in the lives of these fairy-tale characters. In particular, his decision to aid the princess Dulcibel in her toad marrying curse soon brings about a change in this magical land and the town of Much-Belungun-under-Bluff. Despite James' fondness for science fiction, this is a story bursting with fairy-tale characters and references. Accompanied by black and white Froud images, this story is a charming fairy-tale all its own. ( )

I only picked up this book because Brian Froud is the illustrator, but it was actually quite a good read. Norton is actually the author of such classic children's stories as The Borrowers, so I was glad to be reading another one of her carefully crafted, but light-hearted, tales. ( )

Would make a good movie, a la [b:The Neverending Story|27712|The Neverending Story|Michael Ende|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1327871159s/27712.jpg|1122661]. Also reminds me of [b:Into the Painted Bear Lair|2293705|Into the Painted Bear Lair|Pamela Stearns|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1330797360s/2293705.jpg|2300013]. But the young hero has no personality, and the princess is weak and silly. Great potential, with the concept of this Mildred person keeping the characters alive by writing gossip columns about them, but the resonance was never developed. Of course the illustrations are marvelous, and those are what brings the book from 2 to 3 stars, imo. ( )

So, I finished reading Are All the Giants Dead and enjoyed it very much. Mary Norton takes traditional fairy tale characters and writes a new chapter. Most have "grown-up" and are busy with "happily ever-after" but it appears that Jack-the-Giant-Killer did not get all the giants! There is one left and he has a treasure which The Princess must have before she has the courage to kiss the frog.

Read it if you have any childlike wonder left in your heart. Also, recommended for 11 year old kids. ( )

James visits fairytale world and tries to save Princess Dulcibel from having to marry a toad. He meets Jack-the-Giant -Killer and Jack-of-the-Beanstalk. It was OK, but somehow unsatisfying.