JACK AND THE BEANSTALK

A “Jack” for budding engineers and architects; positing that the giant’s coins, hen and harp are also outsized, Lorenz has the intrepid young thief devise sets of wheels and pulleys from buttons, pins, and string to haul his prizes out of the castle. And what a castle it is—hung about with skills and medieval fittings, viewed in luxuriant, exact detail from multiple perspectives and angles. Children will pore over each outsized spread (and skip Lorenz’s long-winded concluding statement) as they cheer Jack’s victory over not only the towering, snaggle-toothed giant, but a tiger-sized cat, malevolent-looking rats, and other adversaries. The telling combines several versions into a conventional whole, but Jack’s courage and mechanical ingenuity have never been shown to better advantage. (Picture book/folktale. 7-9)