Girl Giant and the Monkey King is a book written by Van Hoang, published by the Roaring Brook Press. The story follows an 11-year-old girl named Thom Ngho who has superhuman strength, able to move large vehicles bigger than her size. To get rid of her ability, she makes a deal with the Monkey King, a legendary trickster which she accidentally released from his 500-year sentence. A sequel, Girl Giant and the Jade War, was published in December 2021.
Plot
Thom is sitting on a bench in a soccer game. When the ball came to her, Thom accidentally kicks the ball so hard it hits the rival team's goalie. The "dynamic trio", consisting of Bethany Anderson, Sarah Mazel and Kathy Joon, (Korean) were not impressed.
The next day, an event known as Culture Day is being held which requires most students to pair up. Thom, however, does not wish to participate.
Together with her Pomeranian dog, she explores the neighbour's house and meets Kha, who is the same race and age as her. He lives with his grandparents and goes to the same school as Thom. When Ma found out about Culture Day, she cheerily suggests that Thom should wear Áo dài and play the đàn bầu.
But when Thom disagrees with her idea because the students would laugh at her, Ma brings Thom to Thien Than Temple where she brags that their culture is better than the Americans and narrates the story of the Boy Giant. Thom finds a golden pin that fell out from a little temple. She keeps it in her pocket but at night she discovers that the golden pin is actually the Monkey King who is now released from his 500-year prison sentence.
The next day, Thom is playing soccer and scores a goal but it still does not impress everyone, especially the "dynamic trio". When Thom is alone in the classroom, the Monkey King appears and breaks the teacher's calculator before throwing a 70-pound table at Thom but she catches it with one hand. The teacher has found out about the mess and sends Thom to the principal's office.
At home, the principal had called Ma and she and Thom got into a heated argument about Thom's life in Thuy. Skipping to another day, Thom gets a high fever as a result of an extremely hot shower. The Monkey King offers to take Thom to the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit where the waters will heal Thom. Thom meets the Monkey King's elder brother, Shing-Rhe. She and Shing-Rhe have a good chat about demons and humans and how the whole tribe of monkeys are demons too. After Thom finishes drinking the water, she is completely healed and is taken back home.
The following day when Kha is invited to discuss about the Culture Day with Thom, Kha claims he is a dragon sent by Heaven but Thom does not believe him. After telling the Monkey King about Kha, Thom requests him to take her to California to see her friend Thuy. When they got there, Thuy is now friends with a girl named Amber. The Monkey King takes Thom to a junkyard and orders her to lift heavy vehicles that get bigger each time Thom is able to lift one.
The following day, during a soccer match, the invisible Monkey King kicks Thom's leg which causes the ball to be sent flying. Kha already knew this and tells her not to trust the Monkey King.
Kha is invited to dinner as his grandparents are away. He and Thom have decided the topic for their poster would be the Four Immortals. At night, the Monkey King takes Thom to Hell and gets her to arm-wrestle all of the demons. Thom beats all of them easily. She met a female fox demon named Concao and came to a realisation that the Monkey King is missing his cudgel.
The next night, the Monkey King plans to get his cudgel back but because his powers would be weaker if he shrunk, he sends Thom to disguise herself as a Lotus student who is here to see the Lotus Master. Thom puts the tiny Monkey King in her ear. However, things went wrong when the Jade Soldiers stopped her and plan to put her in the Judgement Veil. Kha arrives and his claim is actually true and is now chasing after Thom as a dragon. A girl named Jae stops Kha and leads Thom to the Lotus Academy.
Thom meets the Boy Giant, who is acting just like Ma. Jae gives him an invitation to a banquet and suggests Thom should come. At the banquet, Jae's father is the Jade Emperor. The Monkey King steals Jae's ring which is the key to the armory. When Thom starts talking about the Monkey King, she is asked to leave.
When Thom reached the armory, she manages to take the cudgel but the Boy Giant stops her and says that she is actually his daughter. An enraged Thom hits her own father with the cudgel and when the Jade Soldiers arrived, Thom manages to defeat all of them with the cudgel too. Kha decided to take Thom home.