Jack and the Beanstalk: How a Small Fellow Solved a Big Problem

by Albert Lorenz, Joy Schleh

A boy climbs to the top of a giant beanstalk, where he uses his quick wits to outsmart an ogre and make his and his mother's fortune.

Genres: Picture Books, Fairy Tales

40 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2002

Reviews

[Set · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful rendition of the fairy tale, in this version, Jack cobbles archimedean contraptions to haul his loot from the kingdom in the sky. There is also the element of Where's Waldo but with jack instead as he decreases in size by the scale of the distance in which the castle is depicted further and further away. Eventually Jack's image is so little that it took me a while to find him in the grand double paged illustration.

[Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charlotte had been asking for a Jack & The Beanstalk book for a while. I had a list of them from the catalog at the library, and this was the one with the fewest words per page, with the most classic version of the story. Charlotte loved it, and I loved it too. The illustrations really make this book-lots of playing with perspective and direction. For a few pages, there are 2 page spreads where you turn the book 90 degrees so it's vertical. Brilliant. And a couple pages have "Where's Waldo" type scenarios where you have to find tiny Jack in the Giants' castle. My one gripe would have to be that the Giant's Wife is called The Giant's wife throughout the book. The Giant doesn't have a name either, but it would have been nice to at least have her be The Giantess instead of The Giant's Wife.

This book appears to be out of print according to Amazon, but I will be keeping my eye out for it. A very interesting rendition of one of my favorite fairy tales.

[Wendee Radmall · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite rendition of Jack and the Beanstalk because the author actually took the time to figure out how to address the problem of scale and adjust the proportions to make the story more believable. Because everything in the Giant's house was enormous, defeating the Giant would require a boy to be not only exceedingly brave, but inventive as well. For instance, Jack made a cart from buttons, knitting needles, and kitchen string to remove the sack of gold from the premises. The subtitle, "How a Small Fellow Solved a Big Problem," is very descriptive of the theme of this story.

The art is lusciously enrapturing and in several full spread pictures, the reader has to look closely to find Jack. We loved it! Definitely a keeper!

[Meltha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this version. Jack actually works as an inventor and builder here, cobbling together machines from the giants' huge household items to help him steal from them (there isn't a vengeance plot here, but they are cannibals, so I'd say go for it). Adding to the fun, some of the illustrations are puzzles and the reader is supposed to try to find Jack, a task that seemed much too easy at first but that rapidly became harder until I honestly didn't get him in the last one without the hint. While a few of the illustrations might be rather scary for younger kids, such as the giants' gigantic rats, I found it a lot of fun.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Each two-page spread took about 60 hours to complete from start to finish. The entire project took just over two years." I like how the illustrator showed proportion between Jack & the giants and the kids enjoyed finding Jack.

[Sally · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a new appreciation for illustrators after reading this note of his: "Each two-page spread took about 60 hours to complete from start to finish. The entire project took just over two years."