Pistes d'exploration

Discuss what you could do if you were in Jack’s position and had no money to buy food.

Discuss the features that we associate with fairy tales: the setting is a faraway place, there is magic, the ending is happy, the story begins with ‘once upon a time’, etc. Compare the features of this story with those of other fairy tales.

Put the sequence of events onto a timeline. Add a brief caption for each point in time.

Write the story from a different point of view: the giant, the mother or the ogre’s wife.

Discuss what you would do if you were in Jack’s position and had no money to buy food? Was Jack clever or foolish in his decision?

Put the events onto a timeline to better understand their sequence.

Write ideas for the story from a different point of view: the giant, the mother or the ogre’s wife. How might they perceive the other characters and their actions?

Boy Soup, Jack and the Baked Beanstalk, Killer Plants and Other Green Gunk

Mots-clés

Fairy Tale , folktales , Jack and the Beanstalk , mothers and sons , ogres , poverty , resourcefulness

Commentaire descriptif

This rendition of the famous story of a boy who trades his cow for magic beans offers language that fairly sings with embellishment. The dialogue is punchy and the narration exuberant—reminiscent of oral storytelling, with witty asides (“sad and sorry as he was to be sure, as much for his mother’s sake as for the loss of his supper”) and fearless repetition (“Jack walked along and he walked along and he walked along till he came to a great big tall house.”) This lengthy story is an excellent choice for introducing children to the expressive qualities of a non-contemporary language style. The illustrations are dense and opulent. Golden light pierces the murky world above the beanstalk. The ogre’s wife stands like a column, a massive ring of keys at her hip. The whorls in her string mop mimic the drape of her dress. The ogre’s green and bumpy face is repulsive. Three times, brave Jack visits the ogre’s lair, taking something each time. This version of the tale makes no apologies for Jack’s theft, nor does it shy away from the death of the ogre—a satisfying story for those who like their fairy tales straight up, no chaser.