The Giant of Seville: A "Tall" Tale Based on a True Story
Written and illustrated by Dan Andreasen
Abrams Books for Young Readers; $15.95
32 pp.; ISBN-13: 978-0810909885

Review by Amy Brozio-Andrews

When Captain Martin Van Buren Bates arrives in the small town of Seville, Ohio, he assumes that this little town, like so many others, couldn't possibly accommodate a man of his size. At almost eight feet tall, with a hat the size of a pickle barrel and a sunflower in his lapel, Captain Bates was better known as the eighth wonder of the world. He had traveled the globe as a member of the circus and was ready to settle down and live peacefully with his wife, whom he lovingly described as "every inch his height." But each town he visited was a poor fit for the large man. And he expected the same result in Seville, where his feet stretched through the open window in his hotel room and his dancing caused the wooden floors to collapse in the boardinghouse.

But the little town turned out to be full of bigger people than Captain Bates could have ever imagined. Mrs. Crawley, the proprietress of the boardinghouse, maintained a fire outside Mr. Bates' window at night to keep warm the Captain's feet, since they didn't fit inside the room. The townswomen gathered to cook up four gallons of pancakes for his breakfast. And when he prepares to leave town after the disaster at the dance, he's stunned to see the men aren't gathering to rebuild the Mrs. Crawley's floor but to welcome Captain Bates properly to his new home.

Based on a true story, old-fashioned style pen and ink and watercolor drawings emphasize the nostalgia of this story set in the late 19th century that's reminiscent of Johnny Appleseed and Paul Bunyan. The book ends with a brief one-page author's note that provides a biography of the real Captain Bates and his wife Anna, complete with a photograph of the couple. Dan Andreasen's poignant and uplifting book, "a 'tall' tale based on a true story," is truly that -- full of the exaggeration and home-spun touches that make tall tales great fun, like poor Mrs. Crawley who keeps the fire going outside to keep her boarder comfortable while his feet hang out the window.

The sweet twist -- when Captain Bates thinks the men with lumber and tools are preparing to repair the floor of the boardinghouse, it turns out they're building a large home for the Bates family -- is a surprise and a wonderful lesson about human kindness.

Andreasen, the author and illustrator of With a Little Help from Daddy and A Special Day for Mommy, lives near the town of Seville, Ohio himself, and his affection for the region shows. Even the format of the book, far taller than it is wide, emphasizes the "giant" and "tall tale" elements of the story.

The story's set up is really well done, leading the reader to believe that yep, Seville's just another town too small for the Bates family until Andreasen pulls the rabbit out of his hat, replicating for us perhaps just a little of the same surprise and pleasure that Captain Bates must have felt all those years ago, to find that people can be genuinely better than we sometimes think to give them credit for.