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Super Giles
64 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1986
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
October 15, 2021
Inspirational. A child can identify as a petrol pump if he really wishes (and eats an abacus). Truly a tale for our time.
November 13, 2022
I learned about this book through a iceberg chart video on internet rabbitholes. Someone had described a children’s book about a suicidal boy that put his fingers in his ears and ate an abacus to become a gas pump that they were trying to find (turns out their description was completely spot-on). It sounded so crazy I couldn’t *not* read it. Thankfully, the british english version has been found and scanned and is available to read (reddit post with pdf is the first search result).
As for the actual book, I agree with other posters that it is quite disturbing, especially being targeted at kids.
The whole story clearly has explicit suicidal themes: Giles wakes up one day knowing exactly what he’s going to do, and it’s a decision he’s been planning for months. He says goodbye to his room (almost does to his parents but lets them sleep instead), ignores his bullies and the torment he seemingly experiences daily, and heads to the petrol station. He loves petrol stations and particularly admires the self-serving pump, as it doesn’t rely on anyone. So instead of going home, he decides to stand by the road perfectly still and be a pump. He considers forgetting the whole thing and just going back home, but before he can, his wish actually does come true.
These themes don’t stop there, either: there’s a lamppost that Giles befriends, and it’s actually revealed that he also used to be human. Everyone was annoyed with him, so he decided to become a streetlamp so he would be useful and appreciated. Some dark undertones that I would expect in something like metamorphosis, not a book for ages 9-11.
The story itself is pretty good though. It can be very nonsensical at times, but there are a number of twists and some real stakes. It kind of reminded me of The Brave Little Toaster at points. The illustrations are also very beautiful (though this translation is unfortunately missing one, the original dutch edition had one of Giles as a boy looking up at the streetlamp).
The ending was also incredibly sad but sweet: Giles has become the most popular petrol pump in the country with his low price, and is preferred over other pumps. His parents pull up to him, but he obviously cannot speak and tell them he’s their son. From their perspective, their son suddenly disappeared one day and presumably died. He spits out their banknotes and gives them their petrol for free, and they declare that it’s the best pump in the world. His mum starts crying as this pump reminds her of their son, and she wonders what happened to him. Giles’s glass counter panel mists up, but they of course drive away and he is left to tend to other customers.
I really have to wonder what the author was feeling while writing this. I did actually enjoy it though, as disturbing and tragic as it was. I think it would have worked well for adults, maybe with a few changes. I completely understand why multiple people would remember this, as I definitely remember a few strange books from my childhood (A Bad Case of Stripes is one, pure body horror). 7/10
As for the actual book, I agree with other posters that it is quite disturbing, especially being targeted at kids.
The whole story clearly has explicit suicidal themes: Giles wakes up one day knowing exactly what he’s going to do, and it’s a decision he’s been planning for months. He says goodbye to his room (almost does to his parents but lets them sleep instead), ignores his bullies and the torment he seemingly experiences daily, and heads to the petrol station. He loves petrol stations and particularly admires the self-serving pump, as it doesn’t rely on anyone. So instead of going home, he decides to stand by the road perfectly still and be a pump. He considers forgetting the whole thing and just going back home, but before he can, his wish actually does come true.
These themes don’t stop there, either: there’s a lamppost that Giles befriends, and it’s actually revealed that he also used to be human. Everyone was annoyed with him, so he decided to become a streetlamp so he would be useful and appreciated. Some dark undertones that I would expect in something like metamorphosis, not a book for ages 9-11.
The story itself is pretty good though. It can be very nonsensical at times, but there are a number of twists and some real stakes. It kind of reminded me of The Brave Little Toaster at points. The illustrations are also very beautiful (though this translation is unfortunately missing one, the original dutch edition had one of Giles as a boy looking up at the streetlamp).
The ending was also incredibly sad but sweet: Giles has become the most popular petrol pump in the country with his low price, and is preferred over other pumps. His parents pull up to him, but he obviously cannot speak and tell them he’s their son. From their perspective, their son suddenly disappeared one day and presumably died. He spits out their banknotes and gives them their petrol for free, and they declare that it’s the best pump in the world. His mum starts crying as this pump reminds her of their son, and she wonders what happened to him. Giles’s glass counter panel mists up, but they of course drive away and he is left to tend to other customers.
I really have to wonder what the author was feeling while writing this. I did actually enjoy it though, as disturbing and tragic as it was. I think it would have worked well for adults, maybe with a few changes. I completely understand why multiple people would remember this, as I definitely remember a few strange books from my childhood (A Bad Case of Stripes is one, pure body horror). 7/10
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 3, 2024
Baby's First Body Horror
March 29, 2025
For years there have been questions about whether or not this book is real, heck I myself had only heard of it through some weird nonsensical TG fanfic written by a Deviantart user that did the story as part of a weird halloween skit (said author/user just does nonsensical tg stories anyway, with forced celebrity cameos, circlejerking with friends, and pop culture gags only fans of their work would get, like we get it, Gator Golf is a thing...I remember that), and now rhat I know it is real I question how on earth it was greenlit.
February 6, 2024
giles corey im going to do it ?
June 30, 2022
I found this book to be rather disturbing. Why would someone write this for kids?
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews