Two Startacular Stories

By Liesl Holford

I am going to write about two awesome stories I read. I will compare and contrast “The Ballad of Mulan” by Song Nan Zhang and “The Mysterious Giant of Barletta” by Tomie dePaolo.

There are some similarities in these two crazy stories. Both stories are tremendously cool. First of all, Both stories include war. In both stories the people believed in Mulan and the statue of Barletta. Both Mulan and the statue of Barletta wouldn’t give up. Both characters are confident in what they are doing.

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Although both stories have a lot of similarities, there are specific differences. In “The Ballad of Mulan,” Mulan faught in war. In “The Mysterious Giant of Barletta,” the giant tricked the soldiers. In “The Ballad of Mulan,” Mulan came to war. In “The Mysterious Giant of Barletta,” the war came to Barletta. In “The Ballad of Mulan,” Mulan was prepared for war. In “The Mysterious Giant of Barletta,” the town didn’t even know about the war. In ” The Ballad of Mulan,” Mulan lives in Japan. In “The Mysterious Giant of Barletta,” the giant lives in Barletta Italy.

In conclusion, both stories were very exciting to read. I enjoyed how Mulan took her fathers place in war because he was growing old. I like how Zia Concetta said good night to the giant every night. “…Buona notte, Colosso-good night, Big one.”(297) My favorite was “The Mysterious Giant of Barletta” because the Giant loved the town so much that he actually saved it!