Jack and the Beanstalk

Jack and the Beanstalk

Author/Illustrator: Paul Galdone
Genre: Traditional Literature
Awards: NA
Age Level: 6-8 years old

Summary: Jack had a mother named Old Mother Twaddle. She was busy cleaning the floors one morning when she found a sixpence on the floor. Old Mother Twaddle called for her son Jack and asked him to go to the market and buy a few things. Mother asked him to buy a nice goose for her to prepare tonight. So Jack went on his way to the market fair. He was stopped by a peddler to buy his magic beans. So he bought the beans and headed back home. Mother was very displeased when she found out what he had used with her sixpence. Jack walked to the garden in hopes to plant this rare been of his. The next day, the bean stock had grown so tall that it reached to the sky. Jack began to climb it full of hope and joy for what he would find. At the top, Jack found a house. He knocked on the door and found a damsel begging him to leave because a giant lived there and will eat him if he's found. Jack went inside against the damsels' wishes. The giant opened the door and roared very loudly. He wants to eat Jack just like the damsel had told him. She gives the giant some strong wine and he tumbled fast asleep. Once he fell asleep, jack chopped off the giant's head and the giant was seen no more. Jack sent for his mother to come up the bean stock and join them for dinner. He and the damsel got married and lived happily ever after.

Illustrations: Illustrations were lively as the characters flew across the pages. The bean stock was a vibrant green that overlaps two pages.  As for the giant, the illustrator drew everything from his dirty fingernails to his multiple hairy chins. This book had incredible illustrations that brought life to the text.

In my classroom, this book would be a great example for the students to learn how to design the plot of the story. Students could label the parts of the story, Jack and the Beanstalk. This includes the beginning, the rising action, the climax, the falling action, and the resolution.