Magic Beans

Children's Literature

This book is part of the "Beginning-to-Read" series designed for children who are just learning to read. It is a retelling of the Jack in the Beanstalk story that is probably familiar to most young readers. The book uses only 44 words to tell the story. Prior knowledge will be important for children's understanding of the book because of its rigid adherence to controlled vocabulary that often makes the plotline confusing. The extremely simple text using high frequency and phonetically common words, however, will help even the earliest readers be successful with this book. Books intentionally written at a specific reading level whose primary purpose is to teach reading skills will almost always suffer in terms of plot, characterization, and other elements necessary for high-quality literature. Teachers may find the exercises in the back of the book useful as a teaching tool for early reading instruction. Parents, however, may find these exercises, which use educational jargon from the National Reading Panel, confusing. 2006, Norwood House Press, Ages 4 to 6.
—Sheryl O'Sullivan