Jack and the Meanstalk

by Brian Wildsmith, Rebecca Wildsmith (Illustrator)

When vegetables don't grow quickly enough, what's a gardener to do? If he's a scientist like Professor Jack, he goes into his laboratory and starts experimenting. But Professor Jack certainly didn't mean to concoct a plant that shoots through the roof and into the sky, menacing humans and animals alike.
Now it's up to the animals to invent a simple, brilliant plan to stop Professor Jack's meanstalk and save their homes.
Brian Wildsmith and his daughter Rebecca Wildsmith have collaborated on a gracefully told fairy tale for today, with brilliantly colored paintings and a simple text that conveys a timely reminder that it's living beings, not technology, that ensure the earth's well-being.

Genres: Picture Books

26 pages, Paperback

First published April 12, 1994

About the author

Brian Wildsmith (1930-2016) was raised in a small mining village in Yorkshire, England, where, he says, "Everything was grey. There wasn't any colour. It was all up to my imagination. I had to draw in my head..."

He won a scholarship to the Slade School of Fine Art where he studied for three years. For a while he taught music at the Royal Military School of Music, but then gave it up so that he could paint full time.

He has deservedly earned a reputation as one of the greatest living children's illustrators. In 1962, he published his first children's book, ABC, for which he was awarded the Kate Greenaway Medal, Britain's equivalent to the Caldecott Medal. He was also a runner up for this medal for The Owl and the Woodpecker.

Wildsmith has said: "I believe that beautiful picture books are vitally important in subconsciously forming a child's visual appreciation, which will bear fruit in later life."

In 1994, the Brian Wildsmith Art Museum was established in Izukogen, a town south of Tokyo, Japan. Almost one and a half million people visited a traveling exhibition of his work in 2005. Eight hundred of his paintings are on loan to the museum.

Brian is married, has four children, and currently lives in the south of France.

— Source

Reviews

[Julia Owens · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book “Jack and the Meanstalk” is about a guy named Professor Jack who was obsessed with his garden. One day he noticed that his plants were taking way too long to sprout for his liking so he went into his laboratory to try to find a way to make his plants grow so fast so every other gardner would envy him and his plant. He mixed a bunch of chemicals together and shortly after that a huge plant sprouted through the roof and would not stop growing. The news came to interview him and the entire town visited his plant to see how amazing it was. Well, the plant never stopped growing, eventually bursting through the ozone layer and into space where it started to block the sunlight and bring a monster down to earth. The roots started to bulge out of the soil interrupting animals’ homes and destroying towns. The animals decided they needed to dig underground and eat through the roots so the plant would starve and die. It worked, and the plant died leaving the monster in space and bringing peace to the town. Professor Jack repaired his house and planted an entire new garden. Instead of coming up with a chemical contraption, he let nature take its course and his garden was beautiful.

The overall themes of this book was letting nature take its course and not trying to be better than everyone else. Professor Jack wanted all the gardeners to look up to him because of his super fast growing plant but it turned out to not help the city at all, just destroy it. Jack realized that his plant was only harming the town so when it died off because the animals ate through the roots, he decided to plant a new garden and let nature take its course.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a cool twist on Jack and the Beanstalk. It has some similar parts of the original book like the part about the space monster making its way down to earth and the name of the main character, but other than that, it was pretty original and it had a good story line to it. I didn’t want to stop reading it because I was so interested about what was going to happen next.

I would definitely recommend this book to children because since Jack and the Beanstalk is such a popular children’s book, they might also be interested in reading this one. It teaches kids to not try to be better than anyone else because they will like you no matter what. Professor Jack tried to have a better, faster growing garden, but it turned out to be a disaster and when he let nature take its course it was beautiful. It will teach kids about letting things happen the way they are supposed to and not to force anything into their life because it will come to them if they wait.

[Eva-Marie Nevarez · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a decent little story with a twist on Jack and the Beanstalk. The artwork - namely the plant and monster at the center of the story - was lovely but the rest was lacking IMO. The rest of the illustrations were bland compared to the plant and monster. Maybe this was done intentionally to bring attention to the plant but my attention was brought to the disappointing, bland background more than anything.
I'd thought, from just glancing through, that this would just be beyond what my imagination likes but since I'm reading these with - and for - Julia I plowed ahead. But I ended up liking it.
Basically, Professor Jack wanted to invent a way to make his crops grow faster and since he's a scientist he had the means to try this out. The day after putting his new invention on his plant he wakes up to a loud crash and finds his plant has already grown through the roof of his house. The plant keeps growing and growing and of course everyone comes to see this miracle. People start getting fearful as the plant doesn't stop or slow down. The plant finally gets so large that it's roots start to come out of the earth which demolishes the town and surrounding areas.
Then, a satellite picture shows an alien monster climbing down the plant towards earth - and the people.
No one knows what to do but the animals, who are also being uprooted, come up with a plan. The animals save the day and the world and from then on Jack "let nature take its course."

[Brittany Chalupa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was cute little story similar to Jack and the Beanstalk, but is a little bit altered. The book definitely allows the readers to use their imagination because obviously no one can grow a plant that grows past the clouds. However, the story was good, but the illustrations were not my favorite. I love colorful, popping pictures with lots of details, and this story book did not provide them for me. However, the colors were warm and inviting for the most part, but I would not like to read this to my class; I would prefer a better illustrated book. I believe the author uses sharp shapes and edges to enhance the danger of the growing plant and to out some suspense to the the story.

[Jackie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A picture book introduction in the wacky, sometimes frightening world of science fiction. As professor Jack develops a way to grow enormous plants, the vegetation gets out of control, grows into outer space allowing an alien monster to climb down to Earth. Everyone is scared...but, it's up to the animals to find a way to stop the invasion.

Jack and the Meanstalk is a little creepy, not at all what you'd expect of the story, ripe with vivid imagination.