The Little Giant Girl and the Elf Boy

The Little Giant Girl and the Elf Boy is a story by Else Holmelund Minarik and illustrated by Garth Williams.

Official Plot
A giant little girl has the good fortune to find an elf child. They like each other very much - she, so lovely and gentle, and he, so small and airy. "If I could grow little," she suggests, "we might be playmates." This is clearly an impossibility, and the elf boy blows a kiss and runs home to his mother. The little giant girl is sad to lose him, but then she has a happy thought. If she were elf-size she would never be able to cover the distance a giant can. And with that she sets off for home, "taking lively big giant steps all the way."

Else Holmelund Minarik (1920–2012)
She was most commonly associated with her Little Bear series of children's books. She acquired a sensitivity to language and a love of all living things during her childhood in Denmark. Her mother's relatives were artists and poets; her father's were farmers. Her expression of these qualities in such children's stories as Little Bear, Father Bear comes home, Little Bear's friend, Little Bear's visit, Cat and Dog, and No Fighting, No Biting has prompted one reviewer, Rudolph Fleasch, to call her "a modern Beatrix Potter".

Garth Williams (1912-1996)
Like Mrs. Minarik, Garth Williams owes something to his family background for his enormous success in the children's book field. Both his parents were artists. Whether in full color or pen and ink, his pictures are certain to inspire the imaginations of children. A few of the classics he has illustrated are Little Fur Family, Charlotte's Web, Do you know what I'll do?, and the "Little House" books by Laura Ingalls Wilder.