Books.org participates in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.
Overview
For a giant, Otto is embarrassingly polite. While all the other giants are studying Cursing, Growling, and Stomping, Otto just wants to play with his pet hen, Clara. Then one terrible day a wily human named Jack climbs up a magic beanstalk and steals her away! Knowing only the thief's name, Otto must find Clara and rescue her from the land of fairy tales and nursery rhymes. The only problem is, there seem to be an awful lot of Jacks down there....
Diane Stanley, author and illustrator of goldie and the three bears and rumpelstiltskin's daughter, once again brings a fresh vision to a beloved story. Readers will delight in recognizing their favorite Jacks as Otto travels throughout the kingdom to find Clara. With great humor and beautiful illustrations, Diane Stanley creates a satisfying tale in which Jack, Jack, Jack, Jack, Jack, Jack, and Otto all live happily ever after.
Synopsis
For a giant, Otto is embarrassingly polite. While all the other giants are studying Cursing, Growling, and Stomping, Otto just wants to play with his pet hen, Clara. Then one terrible day a wily human named Jack climbs up a magic beanstalk and steals her away! Knowing only the thief's name, Otto must find Clara and rescue her from the land of fairy tales and nursery rhymes. The only problem is, there seem to be an awful lot of Jacks down there....
Diane Stanley, author and illustrator of goldie and the three bears and rumpelstiltskin's daughter, once again brings a fresh vision to a beloved story. Readers will delight in recognizing their favorite Jacks as Otto travels throughout the kingdom to find Clara. With great humor and beautiful illustrations, Diane Stanley creates a satisfying tale in which Jack, Jack, Jack, Jack, Jack, Jack, and Otto all live happily ever after.
Publishers Weekly
Stanley (Rumpelstiltskin's Daughter) once again cleverly contorts a familiar tale, here focusing not on Jack but on the giant from whom he purloins a beloved pet. Otto, a young giant with sharp teeth, beady eyes and claw-like nails, looks quite ferocious. Yet he is "embarrassingly polite" and selects as a pet a sweet hen named Clara-who just happens to lay golden eggs-instead of the fierce critters his parents and peers favor. Stanley thus allows youngsters to sympathize with Otto, who is understandably devastated when Jack appears seemingly out of nowhere, grabs Clara and disappears ("It was the single worst moment in Otto's life"). Otto shouts, "Fee, fi, fo, fum" because it's "the scariest thing he could remember from fourth-grade Threats and Curses." Though he suffers from vertigo, the determined giant discovers the beanstalk and pursues the thief. In a lively sequence, Otto searches a fairytale land of mountains and thatched-roof houses as he encounters, among others, a candlestick-jumping Jack, a Jack who tumbles down a hillside with his sister, Jill, and a lean Mr. Sprat grilling steak and celery. Full-bleed spreads of the nursery characters heighten the humor, and an inset angelic portrait of the giant, clipping his nails and donning a flower crown so as not to scare the townsfolk, will especially tickle youngsters. Not surprisingly, the story leads up to a felicitous finale, but the twists and turns readers takes along the way make this tale as original as Stanley fans have come to expect. Ages 5-8. (Sept.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
Editorials
Publishers Weekly
Stanley (Rumpelstiltskin's Daughter) once again cleverly contorts a familiar tale, here focusing not on Jack but on the giant from whom he purloins a beloved pet. Otto, a young giant with sharp teeth, beady eyes and claw-like nails, looks quite ferocious. Yet he is "embarrassingly polite" and selects as a pet a sweet hen named Clara-who just happens to lay golden eggs-instead of the fierce critters his parents and peers favor. Stanley thus allows youngsters to sympathize with Otto, who is understandably devastated when Jack appears seemingly out of nowhere, grabs Clara and disappears ("It was the single worst moment in Otto's life"). Otto shouts, "Fee, fi, fo, fum" because it's "the scariest thing he could remember from fourth-grade Threats and Curses." Though he suffers from vertigo, the determined giant discovers the beanstalk and pursues the thief. In a lively sequence, Otto searches a fairytale land of mountains and thatched-roof houses as he encounters, among others, a candlestick-jumping Jack, a Jack who tumbles down a hillside with his sister, Jill, and a lean Mr. Sprat grilling steak and celery. Full-bleed spreads of the nursery characters heighten the humor, and an inset angelic portrait of the giant, clipping his nails and donning a flower crown so as not to scare the townsfolk, will especially tickle youngsters. Not surprisingly, the story leads up to a felicitous finale, but the twists and turns readers takes along the way make this tale as original as Stanley fans have come to expect. Ages 5-8. (Sept.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.Children's Literature
As a companion to her other folktale spinoffs, Rumplestiltskin's Daughter and Goldie and the Three Bears, Stanley revisits the giant who owned the golden-egg-laying hen which Jack, of beanstalk fame, stole. Only this giant is a mild youngster, entirely misunderstood by his giant peers, and simply crazy about his pet hen. When he climbs down the beanstalk to retrieve his pet, Jack's mother says he's gone looking for their white cow because Jack loved it so. So the giant searches through numerous Jacks before he finds the right one, trades the found cow to get his hen back, and goes home. Young readers familiar with nursery rhymes (an increasingly smaller group, it seems) will knowingly nod as one Jack leaps a candlestick, another tumbles down a hill to land at the Giant's feet, and another skinny one who eats barbequed celery, not a steak or buttered sandwich, to name a few. Stanley helpfully appends the five rhymes the text refers to. Cheerful depictions of the jagged-toothed giant and oversize pictures with text boxed allow story hour listeners to see the action and humor. Older children will appreciate the references and the way this author, like others, blends allusions into an overall story. It is fun to read and pair with the original folktale, or other spinoffs of the "Jack and the Beanstalk" story such as tales by Raymond Briggs, Steven Kellogg, Tony Ross, and Mary Pope Osborne. 2004, HarperCollins, Ages 5 to 9.—Susan Hepler, Ph.D.