Once I was a Giant by Zeno Sworder - a deeper dive

"This is an enigmatic and challenging book of 
wisdom and beauty." Dr Robin Morrow

You might like to begin with my earlier post about Once I was a Giant. This book has just won the Victorian Premiers Literary Award - Prize for Children’s Literature.

Zeno Sworder's work, "Once I Was a Giant," was recognized with the Victorian Prize for Children's Literature at the 2026 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards. This award highlights the importance of children's literature in fostering a love for reading and writing among young readers. Sworder's elegy on memory, loss, and regeneration has been described as a 'luminous' and 'authentically drawn' portrait of grief and care. His work continues to inspire and educate young audiences, making it a significant contribution to the literary landscape of Victoria.

Reading the in-depth review in Magpies Volume 41, issue 1, March 2026 by Dr Robin Morrow has added to my enjoyment and appreciation of this wonderful book. I really felt an urgent need to share the deep wisdom of this piece because I am hoping with all my heart that Once I was a Giant will win the CBCA Picture Book of the Year for 2026.:

"First impressions: I run my hands over the high-quality fabric cover, with its debossed lettering for the title."

"Then I note the unconventional lack of a title page or imprint details at the start of the book. The reader is plunged right into the story. The first end paper depicts a deary apartment block, with an unnamed first-person narrator stating now I live in a concrete box. Luridly coloured pictures in the next spread show the narrator is a pencil, being used by a picture-book maker who has run out of ideas."

"Four spreads of artificially-lit indoor scenes have given way to the start of the pencil's life-story (and) we now enter the natural world, a place of patient time and growth."

"Sworder's skill has transformed a cliched topic (the autobiography of a pencil into a tale reminiscent of those by Hans Christian Andersen, in having a seemingly inanimate object central to the story, and with its magic-making character the wanderer."

"Once I was a giant will evoke discussion of the book as constructed object, as it uses such devices as dramatic page turns, and the contrast of small strip-cartoon illustrations with dramatic large-scale pictures" 

Here is a screen shot of the CBCA judges report from the 2026 Notables booklet: