A Giant Man from a Tiny Town: A Story of Angus MacAskill

Angus’s story continues as his family settles on Cape Breton Island near the little town of St. Ann’s. The family becomes part of the community, and Angus goes to school and works on the farm, a perfectly ordinary boy. This changes when, as he enters his teens, Angus experiences a remarkable growth spurt. When full-grown, he reached the height of seven feet nine inches tall. He “enjoyed hard work and was quick to help out anyone in need.”

Though Angus loved his life in Cape Breton, he eventually left home to “find his fortune”. He joined a traveling show, traveling through many exotic parts of the world. He was invited to meet grand people (including Queen Victoria). Though he was always the tallest person around and easy to notice, “Angus sometimes felt like the tiniest thing in the world.” Angus missed his home, and so he left show business and returned to Cape Breton where he was known for “who he was rather than how tall he stood.”

This gentle story by Tom Ryan is excellently complemented by the soft, lovely illustrations by Christopher Hoyt. Using the limited factual information available about Angus MacAskill, Ryan has chosen to tell his story using the sunny days of MacAskill’s life. The MacAskill family immigrated to Cape Breton Island with no mention of the Scottish Land Clearances that forced the action. The days on the ship were long, but there is no mention of storms, crowded conditions or poor food. They soon became part of the community, but there is no mention of how hard it was to build a house and clear the land. After Angus grew, there is no mention of an incident when he hit a man rendering the man unconscious for more than a day, or that his throwing an anchor over his shoulder resulted in a disabling injury. The story doesn’t continue to Angus’ death, at the age of 38, of ‘brain fever’. These choices are made to fit the story to the target audience of children ages 3-7, and, in that, it is very successful. By the repeated refrain, “Angus felt like the tiniest thing in the whole world”, Ryan provides a point for young readers to realize that their feelings of uncertainty can be shared by people who seem to have every reason for confidence.

Hoyt’s illustrations contribute to the sunny feel of the book. The light is uniform throughout, lending a pleasant atmosphere. On the first page of the text, where an adult Angus appears on a city street, the shadows under his chin and arms intensify the sensation of looking up at him. The skillful use of perspective creates compositions with movement or balance as appropriate to what is happening on each page. Figures of birds and the recurring dog are moving, making for lively pictures. On the page that shows Angus standing by a fence at three different ages and showing his growth, the same bird and horse appear and react to the changes, making for a humourous picture. Near the end of the book, when Angus sits in his shirtsleeves, presumably in his room, again the shadows create the mood of loneliness as he decides to return home. In the final illustration, the same dog that appeared earlier is shown greeting him joyfully on his return.

There are several themes or points of discussion that run through A Giant Man from a Tiny Town. How does a person fit in when they obviously stand out as different? How and why do immigrants move to new places? (When MacAskill returned to Cape Breton, he purchased land from people who were giving up on Cape Breton and moving on to New Zealand.) The book has the possibility of being more than a pleasant story.