The Giant and the Beanstalk [Library Binding]

Diane Stanley (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 5 and up | Grade Level: 1 and up

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.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 3–Despite his fearsome appearance, Otto, a young giant who lives in a magical kingdom high above the human world, is gentle and polite. When his beloved pet chicken is stolen by the human Jack, he descends the beanstalk to try and retrieve her. After being misdirected to every other nursery-rhyme Jack in town, Otto finally finds the culprit. The giant realizes that the boy only wanted to sell Clara so that he could retrieve his own lost pet, Milky White the cow, and the two find a way to retrieve their adored animals. All ends happily as the other giants recognize Otto's heroic qualities, and Jack and his mother open a roadside stand to sell soup mix, made, of course, from beans. While the sharp satire and social commentary that ran throughout Stanley's Rumpelstiltskin's Daughter (HarperCollins, 1997) are missing here, the point-of-view reversal is amusing and the plot and characters are nicely developed. The watercolor illustrations depict a cozy, bucolic fairy-tale world and are replete with humorous details. This is a worthy addition to the growing canon of fractured fairy tales.–Grace Oliff, Ann Blanche Smith School, Hillsdale, NJ
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Gr. 1-3. Everything happens in threes in the world of folklore, so it's only natural that Stanley should follow up her Rumpelstiltskin's Daughter (1997) and Goldie and the Three Bears (2003) with a third revisionist tale. Otto the giant is a tenderhearted fellow who keeps a hen for a pet. And that "fee-fi-fo-fum" thing? That's just "the scariest thing he could remember from fourth-grade Threats and Curses," which he blurts out in desperation when he catches Jack stealing his beloved hen. Otto follows Jack down the beanstalk, where his search leads him to numerous villagers named Jack--each of whom hails from a different nursery rhyme. The rhymes, which aren't always obvious, can be found at the end of the book. Finally, Otto catches up with the proper Jack and the pair work out a satisfactory trade. Although the blending of fractured fairy tale and nursery-rhyme seek-and-find feels a little clumsy, Stanley injects her characteristic, understated humor into both text and art, and young ones will take pleasure in identifying the individual elements of the thoroughly mixed-up story. Jennifer Mattson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Library Binding: 32 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins (August 17, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060000112
• ISBN-13: 978-0060000110
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 9.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,989,659 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Diane Stanley is the author and illustrator of more than fifty books for children, noted especially for her series of picture book biographies. SHAKA: KING OF THE ZULUS was named a New York Times Best Illustrated Book; LEONARDO DA VINCI received the Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction from the National Council for Teachers of English. Ten of her books have been honored as "Notable Books" by the American Library Association and she has twice received both the Boston Globe/Hornbook Award and the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators' Golden Kite Award. She is the recipient of the Washington Post/Children's Book Guild Award for Nonfiction for the body of her work.

She lives in Santa Fe, NM. Visit her website at dianestanley.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Or "A tale of five or six Jacks", January 30, 2005

By 

dnk "dnkboston" (Boston, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Giant and the Beanstalk (Hardcover)

If you like the Stinky Cheese Man, you will love this book. Now, at last, the untold story behind the well-known tale of Jack and the Beanstalk is finally revealed. No, the giant is not really a blood-thirsty monster who wants to eat Jack, and no, he doesn't have the hen because he is greedy. Otto is that rare, gentle giant (although possibly not the brigthest).

To recover his precious hen, Otto travels through five or six different fairy tales in search of the elusive Jack. Older readers will recognize the "other" Jacks immediately, and everyone will get a chuckle out of the giant's quest.

A fun version of an old story, which gives new meaning to the phrase "...and they lived happily ever after."

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Giant Pleasure to Read, January 2, 2005

A Kid's Review

This review is from: The Giant and the Beanstalk (Hardcover)

I thought that this book was really cute. Although I am a little old for it, I loved it! Otto was really funny and his quest to save clara the hen was really sweet. It shows the giant's side of the story instead of the one we usually hear.

I happened to really like this book, and fairy tales and classics really aren't my thing. This book was right up my alley. My dad dislikes kids books and classics, and he thought that this story was as cute as he's ever read.

My little brother hates reading, but he reads this book all the time, around three times a day.

We found out about this book from the teacher at my brother's school because she wanted him to read. He loved it, and had me read it to him a few times.

THIS IS THE BEST SORT OF CLASSIC I HAVE EVER READ IN MY LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

5.0 out of 5 stars Very clever and very cute, August 9, 2007

By 

An electric kettle fan (Washington) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Giant and the Beanstalk (Hardcover)

My kids (ages 7 & 9) and I just read the book this week and enjoyed it very much! We thought that the author had such a wonderful idea when she linked the story to various "Jack" nursery rhymes. It was like a very fun surprise inside a story that was already cute. Great illustrations too. It was a library book but my kids enjoyed it so much we decided to buy a book at amazon.com for our home library!