Pelley, Kathleen

Long ago in Scotland, a talented young wood carver named Rabbie suggests a way to handle a giant who is terrorizing a far-off town--treat the giant as if he were a king, and he might behave like one.

Hector McGregor, inventor of peppermint pencils, glow-in-the-dark books, and other unusual items, leaves his home workshop to work in a laboratory but finds that his inspiration comes from being around his cheery wife, five children, and a hen called Hattie.