Download
1 / 14
E N D
K-Gr 3-This retelling of the English folktale departs in many ways from the well-known version by Joseph Jacobs, and although Walker tells a consistent and humorous story, it is ultimately devoid of much of the suspense and characterization of the original. Jack trades his cow to a strange man for six magic beans, for which he's "lost the instructions." They do what readers expect them to, and Jack climbs the beanstalk to a castle inhabited by a giant and a "little old woman." In a single visit, the boy steals a sack of gold, taking along the golden-egg-laying goose and the little old lady because they ask to come, and the singing harp that gives him away. At the bottom, he uses the rope that he used to lower the bag of gold (a complicated addition to the plot) to catapult the giant into outer space. Jacobs's Jack was not altogether a good child-but the giant was many times worse, and it took a devious mind like Jack's to get the better of him. Walker's Jack is very nice, but lacks motivation and is not very interesting. The book is nicely designed, and Sharkey's oil-and-gesso illustrations in a muted palette are well composed, but the figures (with big heads and feet, and dot-and-line faces) are flat and expressionless. Steven Kellogg's illustrated retelling (Morrow, 1991) is still available for those who need a picture-book version of the tale; this one is pretty but unsatisfying. Think twice before you trade your cow for it.-Nina Lindsay, Oakland Public Library, CA Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information. 'Niamh Sharkey's Jack and the Beanstalk is both spectacular and eccentric, and its real originality is matched by Richard Walker's refreshing text' -- The Sunday Times Like Beneduce and Spirin in their adaptation of this staple (reviewed above), Walker (The Barefoot Book of Pirates) and Sharkey (The Gigantic Turnip) try to mediate its violence. But where Beneduce and Spirin lessen the impact of the violence by providing Jack with a motive, Walker and Sharkey soften the tale itself. The plot follows tradition; the big change comes in the giant's refrain, now "Fee, fi, fo, fum! I smell the blood of a stinky man!" The giant speaks these words just once, rather than in a terror-heightening sequence, and he certainly never threatens to grind Jack's bones to make his bread. Having removed much of the suspense, the text proceeds to a tepid conclusion in which Jack uses the stalk to catapult his foe "into space.... And, as far as I know, he's still there." Sharkey, working in semitransparent earth-tone oils, envisions the giant as a flat-headed Frankenstein with an oversize jaw and a serrated underbite, and Jack as an elfin type with an eggshell-white face and a cranberry-red jester's cap. It's a contemporary, puckish look, one that tells the audience not to take the story too seriously. Ages 4-8. (Oct.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
Fairy Tale statements- Agree or disagree • Activity • Ask the children to stand in the middle of the space. Read out one of the statements from the list below and ask the children to move to the card that best fits their thinking. • Allow a few minutes for them to talk together in the group, telling at least one person why they moved to that card. Encourage every person in the small group to share his or her voice with someone. • Bring the group back to a circle sitting in their divided groups. Allow time to investigate and challenge why people agree or disagree with the statements. Build upon the ideas identifying the concepts involved in the dialogue. • Repeat using as many statements as you wish. At the end of each dialogue ask the children if anyone would like to change their minds moving across the ‘I’ve changed my mind’ card. • Encourage them to say which statements or ideas have influenced their thinking. • Statements: • ·It was OK for Goldilocks to eat up baby bear’s porridge. • ·The Princess did not have to keep her promise to a frog. • ·Cinderella should have stood up to her sisters. • ·Rumplestiltskin should have been given the baby he was promised. • ·Peter Pan should leave Neverland and grow up. • ·The 3 little pigs’ mother should not have made them leave home. • ·The wolf only ate Red Riding Hood because he was hungry. • ·The Prince should always marry the prettiest girl. • ·Witches should punish people who are not kind. • ·Rapunzel was never free as a child. • ·The wolf should have been friendly to the pigs. • ·You should go to any length to prove your love. • ·The King must be wealthy to rule a Kingdom. • ·It was wrong for Jack to take the giant’s gold. • ·Jack was foolish to swap his cow for five beans. • ·Pinocchio was made of wood so was not responsible for his actions. • ·The Billy Goats Gruff should stick to their own land • ·If parents can’t afford to feed their children they should give them away. • Develop philosophical understanding • Matching cards to charaters. • Create or use existing concept cards such as: Love power, revenge, trust, promises, responsibility, identity, wealth, freedom, conscience, and wisdom. • Challenge the children to draw or create a model of a well-known Fairy Tale character. Ask them to identify which concept cards best fit their character and why? • Ask the class to share their ideas. Use any agreements or disagreements to develop and facilitate further inquiry. • Fairy Tale concept line • Ask each child to write themselves a name label to represent a well-known fairy tale character. These labels can be stuck on sticks or hung loosely around the neck. • Allow a few minutes for the children to tell the rest of the group who they have chosen to be. • Use a long rope and spread it along the floor. Place one of the concept cards at one end. E.g. power • Ask the children to stand somewhere along the line that represents how much power (or chosen concept label) they have as their character. The more power (or chosen concept) you have, the closer you stand to the label end of the rope. • Encourage the children to challenge the positions of each other and through respectful dialogue consider whether any characters should be moved elsewhere on the concept line. • Build a Fairy tale concept wall. • Ask the class to create a large Fairy Tale scene wall display. Use this scene to display the philosophy concept cards and pupil’s written/illustrated work based on philosophical ideas raised through fairy tales. • © S Stanley 2013
