Giant Cold — Peter Dickinson

Can a child defeat a frozen giant and bring summer back to Apple Island?

It's the last night of a family's holiday on a tropical island filled with black beaches, sweetfruit, and red-necked looby birds. Their final adventure is to climb the island's tallest mountain before they leave in the morning. But when the child-who might be you-wakes up the next morning, the world has become a frozen wasteland and the father has been transformed into ice. Setting out in search of Giant Cold, a frozen monster no one has ever seen, you-now a tiny elf-meet two giants: white-beard, a scholar; and black-beard, a sailor. You're forced to live inside a bottle and travel with black-beard-until the looby birds snatch up the bottle. Flying over forests, fields, and seas, you must rescue Apple Island from Giant Cold and his armies of wind, snow, and ice. With only the warmth of your own life-a tiny spark-you take on the powerful giant. Riding the wind up to the mountain peak, your tiny size will become your greatest asset as you make a surprising discovery about yourself. Giant Cold is a strikingly original, big-hearted fantasy about love, family, and finding your way home.