The Book That Jack Wrote

by Jon Scieszka

The author of The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales and The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs lends a demented twist to a familiar nursery rhyme. Scieszka's latest masterpiece details all the crazy mayhem that can occur when nursery rhymes go awry. Full color.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fiction, Poetry, Humor, Fairy Tales, Fantasy

32 pages, Library Binding

First published September 1, 1994

About the author

Jon Scieszka is an American children's writer, best known for picture books created with the illustrator Lane Smith. He is also a nationally recognized reading advocate, and the founder of Guys Read – a web-based literacy program for boys whose mission is "to help boys become self-motivated, lifelong readers."

Reviews

[Ronyell · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The Book that Jack Wrote” is one of Jon Scieszka’s books that the illustrator is not Lane Smith but Daniel Adel. This book is based off the nursery rhyme, “The House that Jack Built,” except it has a more comic twist to the classic rhyme as all the characters in this book are either hit, pushed, or chased by other characters. Surely, this book is easily one of Jon Scieszka’s most sophisticated books ever written.

Jon Scieszka has written a more far-fetched version of this classic nursery rhyme by adding in various characters that came from various children’s books such as “Alice in Wonderland” and “Humpty Dumpty” and he makes the story even more creative when he starts the book off with the ending of the man in the tattered coat getting squashed by this book. Jon Scieszka also made this book extremely funny to read as each character gets clobbered in a slapstick way, such as the Hatter accidentally pushing the Egg over the wall when he tripped on the rug that the bug was eating. Daniel Adel’s illustrations are surreal and dark as all of the characters have large and realistic looking heads, while their bodies are also realistic, but very small. The image that really stood out the most in this book is the image of the man in the tattered coat as he has large glasses and a large head on a small body, which is the same man on the cover of the book.

“The Book that Jack Wrote” is a silly book that plays a surreal twist on one of Mother Goose’s lovable nursery rhyme and will surely be an instant treat for many children for many years. I would recommend this book to children ages five and up due to the fact that smaller children might not like the violent images displayed in this book.

Review is also on: Rabbit Ears Book Blog

[Brittany Young · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like the perspective that the illustrator chose to draw this story from. It was unique and interesting. The cover seems simple, but it goes perfectly with the inside illustrations and story. The front cover shows the reader looking in on Jack through some kind of frame; the back cover is as if the reader is on the other side of the frame looking in from the back. Inside illustrations are from the same perspective, the reader is looking in through a frame as the story takes place. All the pictures are on the right side, with the text on the left side. As you go through the book, the text accumulates, adding one sentence to the same group of sentences on each page. This style of writing creates a sense of repetition. The big text and repetition makes it appropriate for young readers. I liked that the story included characters from other traditional fairy tales and traditional stories. The last page was very interesting. It showed the book that jack wrote, sitting inside a broken frame. The top of the picture extends to the end of the page for the first time in the book, creating a sense of never ending. It almost gives me the reader the idea that this books story is not finished, that it could go on. I could not find a moral, it is just a visually interesting story. Although there is no lesson to learn from it, this book could be used to accompany young students with writing their own accumulating story. I can see children in a classroom being excited about writing their own silly story, where they only add one sentence to each phrase at a time. This was not my favorite picture book, but it was still visually interesting to look at.

[Dolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun version of the classic story The House That Jack Built. The illustrations are wild, exaggerated paintings that look very real, in an abstract way. And the cumulative narrative is humorous, rhythmic and a hoot to read aloud. I love how the story comes full circle, with the book itself at the beginning and end. Very surreal. Our girls laughed at every turn of the page, especially at the expressions on the animals. We really enjoyed reading this story together.

[Genesis Almodovar · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Book That Jack Wrote by Jon Scieszka is about different things that happened in a very unique version of nursery rhymes. I really enjoyed this book because every page rhymes but every page has something different. The pictures were very interesting to look at and it went with the overall book. This book is a bit strange but it allows children to have a sense of repetion and pattern. This book was really fun and adult will enjoy it as much as children do. It allows children to read and predict what will happen next.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another fine read written by Jon Scieszka, not his best, but still a good one. I enjoy reading his books to the girls, and seeing their puzzled expressions when I read his writings. They seem to remember stories similar to what they have heard, but they seem puzzled by the outcomes, that isn't the way they remember it. My thoughts on the whole matter are; if you want a child to think 'vanilla' for his or her imagination, read someone else, but if you want a child to develop a higher level of thought or imagination, read Jon Scieszka's books to them, along with similar authors.

[Children's Literature · Rating 4 out of 5]

This a story about a book that Jack wrote. This is a review about the story about a book that Jack wrote. I am sitting at my computer writing the review about the story about a book that Jack wrote. You are reading the review that I typed while sitting at my computer writing the review about the story about a book that Jack wrote. Do you think you could write a story that is like The Book that Jack Wrote?

[Jillian Menendez · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought that this book was a fun read and not only can children enjoy this book but adults as well. This book pokes fun at the classic nursery rhymes that we all know and love. The illustrations bring the book together and work really well with how the stories are laid out through this book. I think this book is filled with a lot of humorous text and was really enjoyable as an older reader.

[Jeanie Cullip · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first heard and fell in love with the writings of Jon Scieszka during my Children's Literature class at ISU. So, when I saw this book on the shelves of my public library I knew that I needed to take it home.

Before reading, I explained to my daughter that this would follow the storyline of the book The House that Jack Built. She looked at me with an empty face, she was clueless about this classic nursery rhyme. I felt as though I had deprived her of basic literature wisdom, so I made sure to grab a copy. This led to yesterday's reading.

Last night, I was able to share both stories with her and in much delight she loved them both. Phew, that was close!

I too loved the story, The Book that Jack Wrote. A whimsical take on the widely (???) known nursery rhyme. This time Jack wrote a book, rather than built a house. As I read, I also found it to connect with other nursery rhymes: Humpty Dumpty and Hey Diddle Diddle (thankfully, my daughter knew of these).

This backward snowball of a story is a great way to teach students the part of a story and how an author builds on an individual thought which leads to the next, and so on. Could the reading of both stories of Jack, lead to the students writing their own?

This is the coffee that Jeanie made.

This is the creamer that filled the cup, that deliciously paired with the coffee that Jeanie made.

This is the cup that held the creamer and coffee justly so.....

Hmmmm... this could be fun! What would your story be?

[Caitlen Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is similar to "There was an old lady who swallowed a fly" with Jon Scieszka's signature brand of grossness paired with slightly unsettling illustrations. A series of creatures has an increasingly silly amount of misfortune befall them in close proximity to the book that Jack Wrote. The rhymes, as well, as the easy to memorize rhythm make it a fun book to read aloud for adults and children alike. It is suitable to children in and around second grade reading level.

[Andrew Ives · Rating 2 out of 5]

An irritating 'circular' story that repeats and repeats until the ending loops around to the beginning again as a kind of surreal plot twist. I found it quite irritating from almost the beginning, growing in annoyance as it went along. The illustrations are well painted, but also look quite creepy and ugly, so there's not a lot going for this book really. Rather a waste of time to read to any kids. 1.5/5

[Kayla · Rating 5 out of 5]

This isn't really a review, but this was my favorite childhood book and I've had it memorized since I was five years old. I have so much love for this book and it's very special to me, I definitely recommend that you read this to your child or you have them read it, this book is what got me into reading from a very young age. I adore it.

[Heidi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really, really cool paintings. As for the story...I don't get it. I think it's funny but I don't know. I'm a chick though and it's seems like boy humor. Maybe I'll amend the review with one from my gents later.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

A compilation of nursery rhymes in a funny story line. Illustrations are fun and unique too. Not my favorite work by Scieszka.

[Hailey Forbes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Genre: poetry
Reading Level: lower elementary

This book is a common one. Most people know the rhythm of the book. This would be another good one to read aloud to your class.

[Misbah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the illustrations and the fun little twist at the end, but I find repetitive word stories like this a little boring.

[Aarica · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite childhood book. The illustrations are hilarious. This must be read at an increasing pace to enjoy the tongue tied phrases.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like the root story, "The House That Jack Built," this one goes along. And along.

Great illustrations.

[Keegan Collins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genre: Poetry
Grade: PreK-3
The book shows a cool repeated poetry that is also used in a lot of nursery rhymes. I enjoyed how easy this book was to follow along. It would be fun for a young student to follow along with.

[Bernice Seward · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this one so much I read it two times in a row:-) It was fun to see what caused each stage of the ruckus.

[Shannan]

You will find yourself reading the pictures long after you finish the story. I thought it was interesting that the cover on the book has said paintings by instead of illustrations by. It got me looking closely at this exceptional art. On a personal note Jack looks a lot like my Scottish grandfather which was incredibly endearing to me.

[Nickie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story had a good rhythm. It would be something that you want to read out-loud such as Dr. Seuss to get the meter and pattern correct. I enjoyed how every character had a twist on what caused their actions. It was fun to try and predict and guess what could have happened. I appreciate how the story went full circle. And it was repetitive very repetitive extremely repetitive.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I liked the paintings a lot, I wasn't too excited about this story. It's in a nursery rhyme format that I found to be kind of confusing and boring. The pictures, though, are pretty awesome.

[Dee-Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

My boys were captivated by this book, which is a slant on the original ... The House that jack Built'. The pictures were amazing, if not a bit creepy (one picture my boys were insisting that I turn the page quick), and at the end I could not beleive that we had gone full circle.

[Marilyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is not engaging or interesting or visually pleasing to me. It's a play on The House that Jack Built using mixed-up Mother Goose rhymes for the lines of the book. I have liked Scieszka's other books.

[Angie Cason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jon Scieszka is one of my favorite children's book authors of all time, and this was one of my first introductions to his work when I was in high school. My best friend just gave me her hardback copy, and it's like she gave me a piece of happiness!

[Carolyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

AR 4.9 -- 0.5

Quite humorous.
Drawings very "life-like" almost a bit creepy.

[Andrea · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a fun book to read to the kids for prediction. They had a fun time with it. The illustrations are a bit crazy which made it more fun for them. It isn't my favorite book, but it was okay.

[Maris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh, gotta love those books from your childhood!

[Megan Franks · Rating 1 out of 5]

Great illustrations, less than thrilling text. Check out Jon Scieszaka's The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs.

[Whittney · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great progression book that adds humor to the original Old Lady That Swallowed The Fly. Kids could have fun predicting what might happen next.