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May 22, 2015mmcbeth29 rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
SUMMARY: Jack lives on a farm with his family. There is a terrible drought. The daughter of the king (Princess Blah Blah Blah), asks a wizard to do something. So he creates some magical beans. One ends up in Jack's possession. He plants it and climbs the giant beanstalk. He meets a giant taking a bath. After much discussion, jack goes down the drain, taking the water with him which pours down the beanstalk making the kingdom wet once more. ILLUSTRATIONS: The illustrations were created in multimedia. They are rich, colorful, large, finely detailed, and very nice to look at over and over. THE GOOD: I always enjoy a good fractured fairy tale. Joyce gets points for creating a new take on Jack and the Bean Stalk. His characters were cute and often downright funny, especially the king with the stinky pinky. THE NOT AS GOOD: I was immediately turned off by the phrasing and language the author uses in the story such as: "The last outta the pod." (This is a fragment) "That's about it. No great shakes." (What exactly does this mean?) "All right-a-roonie, Jack." I felt like I was reading a gangster version of the fairy tale and it was very incongruent to me. The lengthy conversation with the giant in the bath confused me. What was that all about? They were simply passing the time of day--again, out of place. Jack's whole trip up the beanstalk seemed rather mediocre. Then the story ends with Jack and Jill fetching a pail of water. What? AGE RECOMMENDATION: This story is advertised for ages 3-6, but I think it would be better suited for ages 5-8. This age group would better understand the subtle humor. Plus, the book is quite lengthy with 55 pages.