French: Le garçon qui avala le monde: (et la petite fille qui le sauva), trans. Louise Binette, Toronto: Éditions Scholastic, 2008.

This is picture book (illustrations composed in Acrylic) in which Herman Oof, a baby giant, eats all the available food, then turns his attention to cities, lands, and the entire world. ‘Scientists examined Herman and said, "If this keeps up, soon there won’t be anything left to eat in the whole world." (p. 6). Having eaten all the food, and lost any companions, Herman is lonely. "He was too tall to talk to anyone. He stared up at the sky and imagined that he was the moon and the stars were all his friends. And he was hungry. Very hungry." (pp. 10–11). He eats Africa and Greenland, and drinks the Atlantic Ocean. A girl named Sarah climbs up on him while he is sleeping and wakes him: "I hope you’re happy." (p. 15). Herman says he is not happy. "I ate everyone’s dog", Herman said sadly. "I couldn’t stop myself. I was just so hungry." (p. 17). "Herman was now the same shape as the earth, more or less. A huge, round thing with tiny legs and arms and a big moon face. Inside him, billions of people were wondering why it was so dark." Herman floats through space, like a planet. He tells Sarah that he is ‘stuffed,’ and if he ate another bite, he would burst. Sarah looks at Herman’s "giant unhappy moon face" then jumps into his open mouth (p. 22). Herman bursts, or at least disappears, and the world is restored, a little different than before. Reunited with her dog, Sarah "watched the moon come out, which looked like Herman’s face. It was smiling." (p. 28).

The Boy Who Ate the World is a loose rendition of the myth of Erysichthon, in which a boy giant (Herman Oof) ‘eats the entire world.’While the myth is not directly referenced, The Boy Who Ate the World connects with the idea of overeating, and indiscriminate eating, both of which appeal to young children. Sarah, the heroine, could parallel Demeter, whose implacability causes Erysichthon to self-destruct: her act of jumping into Herman’s open mouth is analogous to a number of heroic mercy-killings, though Herman’s transformation into the face of the moon offers a softer ending than the original. Pratt’s illustrations are bright and painterly, and the text sometimes wriggles along with Herman’s emotions. The book offers insight into the psychology of overeating and obesity, friendship and loneliness.  

Don Gillmor at Wikipedia (accessed: April 26, 2018).

Don Gillmor, official Website (accessed: April 26, 2018).

Pierre Pratt, Website: www.pierrepratt.com/2015/bio-en/, (accessed: April 26, 2018).

Talieh Mirsalehi, ‘Pierre Pratt: Illustrator—Canada,’ Bookbird: A Journal of International Children’s Literature 54.2 (2016): 18.