In this stylish retelling of the classic folk tale, penniless Jack climbs a magical beanstalk, outsmarts a greedy giant, and restores family fortunes.
In the familiar plot, when Jack’s mother sends him to sell their cow to buy food, he returns with “magic” beans instead. His distraught mother discards the beans, which sprout into a towering beanstalk. Thrice Jack scales the beanstalk, hides from the giant (who killed his father and stole their wealth), and exacts revenge by taking the giant’s hen who lays golden eggs, his gold coins, and his gold harp. When the giant finally pursues him, Jack takes his axe to the beanstalk. The familiar text offers no surprises, but blood-red endpapers decorated with a beetle and green beans portend an untraditional visual approach. In contrast to pale-skinned Jack and his mother, rendered in delicate black-and-white strokes, Töwe paints everything else in bold, emotionally charged hues. With a fish for an eye and another on her head, the giant’s green wife appears more than creepy, while the giant is a disconcerting, barely recognizable assemblage of animals, medieval buildings, shells, bones, insects, and plants. Every double-page spread offers arresting close-ups and perspectives, perplexing combinations, and powerful, surreal compositions to confound or delight, while the twisting, green beanstalk exudes kinetic energy.
An imaginative, dramatic, and surprising rendition of Jack’s famous adventure. (Picture book. 4-9)Pub Date: May 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-988-8341-36-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Minedition
Review Posted Online: March 6, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2017
Categories: CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S
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With a little help from his audience, a young storyteller gets over a solid case of writer’s block in this engaging debut.
Despite the (sometimes creatively spelled) examples produced by all his classmates and the teacher’s assertion that “Stories are everywhere!” Ralph can’t get past putting his name at the top of his paper. One day, lying under the desk in despair, he remembers finding an inchworm in the park. That’s all he has, though, until his classmates’ questions—“Did it feel squishy?” “Did your mom let you keep it?” “Did you name it?”—open the floodgates for a rousing yarn featuring an interloping toddler, a broad comic turn and a dramatic rescue. Hanlon illustrates the episode with childlike scenes done in transparent colors, featuring friendly-looking children with big smiles and widely spaced button eyes. The narrative text is printed in standard type, but the children’s dialogue is rendered in hand-lettered printing within speech balloons. The episode is enhanced with a page of elementary writing tips and the tantalizing titles of his many subsequent stories (“When I Ate Too Much Spaghetti,” “The Scariest Hamster,” “When the Librarian Yelled Really Loud at Me,” etc.) on the back endpapers.
An engaging mix of gentle behavior modeling and inventive story ideas that may well provide just the push needed to get some budding young writers off and running. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2012
ISBN: 978-0761461807
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Amazon Children's Publishing
Review Posted Online: Aug. 22, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2012
Categories: CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A young boy sees things a little differently than others.
Noah can see patterns in the dust when it sparkles in the sunlight. And if he puts his nose to the ground, he can smell the “green tang of the ants in the grass.” His most favorite thing of all, however, is to read. Noah has endless curiosity about how and why things work. Books open the door to those answers. But there is one question the books do not explain. When the wind comes whistling by, where does it go? Noah decides to find out. In a chase that has a slight element of danger—wind, after all, is unpredictable—Noah runs down streets, across bridges, near a highway, until the wind lifts him off his feet. Cowman’s gusty wisps show each stream of air turning a different jewel tone, swirling all around. The ribbons gently bring Noah home, setting him down under the same thinking tree where he began. Did it really happen? Worthington’s sensitive exploration leaves readers with their own set of questions and perhaps gratitude for all types of perspective. An author’s note mentions children on the autism spectrum but widens to include all who feel a little different.
An invitation to wonder, imagine and look at everything (humans included) in a new way. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: April 14, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-60554-356-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Redleaf Lane
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2015
Categories: CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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