The Iron Man

You know what it's like. You've left your wife, she's killed herself, so you write a story to cheer up the kids. We've all been there.

When you write a review of a kid's book, there really should be a way to give it two different star ratings. One for you, and one for the kids you've read it to. For me, this book might be a three star book. Four if I was feeling generous. I find it wordy and ponderous. Overwrought. The plot is pretty clunky and meh. I don't hate the book or anything, it's just doesn't do much for me. But my boy loves it. He wants me to read it to him over and over again. And again. I think this might be slightl [...]

(Read for book club - 13/07/2013)“Haven’t you heard of the music of the spheres?” asked the dragon. “It’s the music that space makes to itself. All the spirits inside all the stars are singing. I’m a star spirit. I sing too. The music of the spheres is what makes space so peaceful.” I suppose the only way I could start this review would be by saying that approximately thirteen years ago a small, likely annoying girl of four's heart was torn apart by the ending scene of Brad Bird's [...]

The book was as liquid as its animated movie. Kinda reminded me of Bridge to Terabithia. Though the two couldn't be more further apart.The book was a little different from the movie, by little I mean completely. But what a message at the end, wow. What a message. So amazing. Alas if only. Funny thing. It was corrupted by them and yet it ended up curing them all.Oh yeah, if Only. Sigh. But humanity. Sigh. I'd give this one ten stars rating.

Pa: So you finished your first big book. How are you feeling?Miloš: Proud of myself.Pa: You should be. I'm proud of you too.Miloš: Thanks, Pa.Pa: Sure, so did you what did you think of it?Miloš: There was a great author.Pa: Who's that?Miloš: Ted Hughes.Pa: Why's he so great?Miloš: Because I liked the space-bat-angel-dragon.Pa: The what?!Miloš: The space-bat-angel-dragon is what I said, Monsieur.Pa: I thought it was the Iron Giant.Miloš: And the Iron Giant.Pa: So what did the space-bat-an [...]

The Iron Man by Ted HughesThe Iron Man: A Children’s Story In Five nights by Ted Hughes does indeed consist of five chapters; designed to be read a chapter per day, although some children may find it difficult to wait a whole day to hear more of this exciting story.Set in a rural town, a town where a small boy called Hogarth goes fishing in the local stream only to come across an Iron Man. He forms a relationship with the Iron Man and he must save him from the adults. The fact that when he doe [...]

I was thrilled when I got this copy of The Iron Man from my husband. I've always loved the movie The Iron Giant, and have it almost memorized in its entirety! I never knew that it was based on a book, nor that it was a book written by Ted Hughes! I shamefully admit that this was my first Ted Hughes book, and although I enjoyed it, it was close to nothing like the movie. That put me off for many reasons, but the biggest being that I was reading it with the movie playing in my head, which was prob [...]

I suspect few come to this book without having first seen the film adaptation called The Iron Giant, the 1999 Warner Brothers animation directed by Brad Bird and co-written by him.The film is a masterpiece and is also one of my *favourite films, to watch again and again whenever it comes on. The book is wonderful but perhaps not a masterpiece. Let us deal first with the book, because I think it is necessary and pleasurable to return to the film.The charm of the book stems from the central idea o [...]

For a children's book (which isn't my favourite genre to read as an adult) this was pretty good. The prose is quite poetic and the story is engaging, both on the surface and at a deeper level. One to read with children, while still getting enjoyment yourself.

4.5 Stars

I am about to start reading the Iron man with my year three class, and I cannot wait. Having had the pleasure and vivid memories of being read this story by one of my own teachers when I was at school. I was a little apprehensive as to whether I would enjoy reading this book again, now that i am an adult. I need not have worried, Ted Hughes' writing is magical and this story was made to be read aloud. In fact I have enjoyed reading it so much, that over the half term holiday I read the story alo [...]

The Iron Man by Ted Hughes is a book that I came across due to the year four class I was placed in using the book for the basis of their Autumn terms literacy lessons. The Iron Man is a third person account of a metal eating iron giant who falls from space to impact on Hogarth's and the rest of the village's lives. The book was used successfully as the basis for a combination of literacy lessons due to the authors use of many literary devices which the class were required to learn that term. It [...]

I bought this book based purely on how much I loved Brad Bird's movie adaptation, The Iron Giant. And I think the excellence of the film completely overshadowed this book in my readings.Hughes has a simple, lyrical style that works for younger readers. And he divides the chapters into episodes to make it easily digestible. However, the story itself has no real depth of character, and prefers to stay detached in describing the realm of the fantastic. We never really see Hogarth and the Giant beco [...]

The Iron Man book is one of the most remembered books from my childhood.The adventure starts with an immediate introduction of the Iron Man, giving great detail in his appearance. The suspense quickly builds up as the Iron Man falls down the cliff and in to little pieces. The body parts then start to reassemble, one by one until the Iron Man is complete. A little boy named Hogarth appears on the scene, fishing in a stream before he is startled by the Iron Man. Hogarth runs home to raise the alar [...]

Whilst The Iron Man is a wonderfully descriptive and poetic story (there is a real sense of rhythm to Hughes' words which is lovely) the story itself seems to be composed of two separate halves. In the first half, we are introduced to the Iron Man, his fondness for eating anything steel and disrupting the farmers, etc. whilst the second half focuses on him during a test of strength with the space-bat-angel-dragon which has terrified residents and so the Iron Man seeks to make this dragon his sla [...]

i read this in class two years ago as a class and i loved don't forget to watch the movie after

First let me say that I will not accept this as SF. It's a great story, a parable, a fable, a fantasy but SF would keep track of relative sizes at the very least! And what about all that consumption; where is the matter going?Second, I coulda sworn that I read it before. I know I enjoyed the movie. And of course the movie is very different (though also quite good). But I thought I read the story, and yet almost nothing rings a bell. In any case, this oversized, artistically designed edition give [...]

I found a version of this in a charity shop with fabulous illustrations. I had forgotten how wonderfully sublime some of the language is and, of course, the timely and pertinent message of hope and peace. A delightful revisit to an old, forgotten favourite.

I remember this book as being magic. I know when I was quite young I had both this and The Iron Woman. I didn't like that as much. I'm doing a children's lit module this next semester, so I dug out a lot of "childhood classics" or books I adored as a kid to reread, or at least glance at. It doesn't take long to reread The Iron Man (or The Iron Giant, as my sister's copy insists).The back calls it a modern fairytale, which is true. It's purely fantastical, with a big iron man and a bit space-drag [...]

A 1001 CBYMRBYGU. One day, an Iron Giant arrives on earth. He eats barbed wire and tractors and plows, causing problems for the farmers. Finally, the farmers devise a trap for the Iron Giant and they successfully capture him. Then an even more terrible creature arrives from space and the Iron Giant must come to the rescue.“The peoples of the world got together. If they fed it, how could they ever satisfy it? It would never be full, and every new day it would be as hungry as ever. How can you f [...]

Na začátku se všechno rozpadne. Kovové součástky rachotí a cinkají o kamení. Pak se železný muž, který přišel bůhvíodkud, dá zase sám dohromady. Ale tím to zdaleka nekončí. Příběh, ve kterém ohlušující plechové řinčení nakonec vystřídá samotná hudba sfér. Především však zvláštně skvělá moderní pohádka.

Těžko hodnotit dětskou knihu z pohledu dospěláka. Zvláště pak Železného muže, který se pyšní krásným knižním zpracováním a příběhem, jenž bezpochyby dokáže chytit za srdce. Možná jsem na tento typ příběhů už starší, ale na druhou stranu si mne kniha získala - ať už skrze ilustrace, nebo některé hezké momenty.

‘The Iron Man’: A Children’s Story in Five Nights is made up of five chapters, the story was designed to be read to children over five nights but unfortunately I was unable to follow this routine and as a result the story was read in less than an hour. Each chapter ended with a climax, ‘how far had he walked? Nobody knows. Where had he come from nobody knows?’ and therefore I was drawn into the exciting and engaging story about the Iron Man. ‘The Iron Man’ is a story about a myster [...]

Vuonna 1968 ilmestynyt Ted Hughesin "Rautamies" (Kustannus-Mäkelä, 1993) on klassikon aseman saavuttanut englantilainen lastenkirja, joka on tullut tutuksi myös The WhonPete Townshendin rock-oopperana ja Brad Birdin animaatioelokuvana. Meillä se ei ole ehkä saavuttanut samanlaista mainetta ja kuuluisuutta, mistä kertonee sekin, että kirjan ensimmäinen ja ainoa painos otettiin vuonna 1993.Tarina käynnistyy väkevästi. Valtavan kokoinen Rautamies nousee merestä ja ryhtyy syömään meta [...]

Contains Spoilers1. Science Fiction2. The Iron Giant tells the story of a giant made of iron, who after making peace with local farmers, manages to save the world from a giant space dragon. 3. I actually loved this book up until the end. The beginning is great, where the kid feels guilty about what they do to the Iron Giant, and then when the space dragon arrives, the panic and response of Earth is realistic and interesting. Then it takes a turn that I thought was a cop-out. There is this great [...]

This story appears to be some sort of mythic allegory? Or something else. It may yet come to me. Maybe I should give it another star just for giving me something to puzzle about. The writing got smoother along the way as if the author were learning English, and yet Hughes, well, British poet and all that. It's as if he were a spare and understating poet who discovered prose and children's lit all at the same time. I don't know anything about him, and somehow know even less having read his book. [...]

AKA the Iron Giant in the USAThis book was an extremely popular story when I was in primary school and I was with the majority in liking it a lot. Nearly four decades on I can't quite figure out the appeal, besides the outlandish nature of the protagonist and antagonist and their unusual contest.Now it seems obviously to be a serial bed-time story Hughes made up for his kids and then wrote down for publication, much as Ffangs the Vampire Bat and the Kiss of Truth is, but with at least a proper e [...]

Non so bene come parlare di questo libro. Durante quest'anno ho iniziato a (ri)leggere alcuni libri per bambini ed anche se spesso il linguaggio era semplice ed infantile, rimaneva comunque interessante. Per questo libro non è stato così, troppo ripetitivo. Per quanto invece riguarda la trama: non ha nulla a che fare con il film (per quanto ne ricordo io, perché nonostante lo amassi da piccola, ne sono comunque rimasta traumatizzata ed ho ancora adesso incubi ricorrenti a riguardo). Nonostant [...]

Wow, an amazing little story! Oh, did I say little? Doesn't seem fitting when it's about the BIG iron man. I haven't watched the iron man movies (just don't feel like it's my thing), but don't chide me for it, if there's an iron man to know about, it's THIS one.I thought this was a really cool story. Kids will love it. But I loved it too. I think it's been a while since I've read something and actively conjured a visual, moving image of what I'm reading in my head.

Interesting book. Not as good as the movie, but still worth reading. Quite a bit different though.