A magical story that weaves together fifty world tales, by a renowned poet, and illustrated by 2002 Greenaway Medal winner Chris Riddell.

`One day a story fell from heaven and landed on a giant's tongue... '

The Story Giant is a master illusionist and the ur-storyteller. In his memory exists every tale ever told in the world - except for one, which has eluded him for millennia.

In a last desperate attempt to track down this lost tale, he draws four children from the different corners of the globe into his castle while they sleep, there to exchange the tales they know from their own cultures, to see if between them they can piece together the elusive missing story. For if he cannot track it down and install it in his memory, the whole facade of the castle will crumble and fall, and the Story Giant himself will die. And if he does, so will all the stories, and the world will be a poorer, duller, grimmer place.

Fifty tales are told within this magical framework in Brian Patten's inimitable style - from Brer Rabbit to the tale of how St George killed the Dragon (except it wasn't St George - it was his mother, with a pudding...) but none of them is the missing tale. The castle falls; the giant dies. But all is not lost - the four children dream themselves back to the ruins to concoct the missing tale themselves...

This book is aimed at children in primary school.

There are 224 pages in this book. This book was published 2004 by HarperCollins Publishers .

Paul Stewart is the very funny, very talented author of more than fifteen books for children, including The Edge Chronicles, a collaboration with Chris Riddell. Brian Patten was born in Liverpool. His poetry for adults has been translated into many languages, and his collections include Collected Love Poems, Armada, and, from Penguin,