Customer Reviews

Jack and the Box (Toon)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I'm a father of two boys, ages 6 and 4. This is my first review as part of Amazon's Vine program. I've reviewed a lot of children's books and you can find some of my other recommendations in my Listmania! List titled, "Little boys' bedtime books."

My initial response to this book was negative. I pulled it out of the Amazon shipping box and read it cover to cover, sitting alone at our dining table. The book didn't meet my expectations of a young reader's book, even though the vocabulary was appropriate for their ages.

At bedtime, I squeezed between my sons, who were dressed in superhero pajamas with their heads topped on a triangle of arms and elbows that disappeared into their Batman comforters. I gave Jack, the little rabbit, a boy's soft, inquisitive tone and Zack, the jack-in-the-box, a nasal-voiced New Yorker's accent. My sons liked the large cartoon panels (two panels per page). At the end of the book, my four-year old turned to me and asked, "Can we read it again?"

So, we did. On the second reading, my six-year old read along with me while his younger brother noted the rhymes and oversaw the sound effects (a "pop" every time Zack appeared from his box).

We've had the book now for nearly a week and the book is still as popular at bed time. My six-year old can now read it cover to cover.

I eventually figured out the source of my initial negative response. The book's audience is children, not adults. My sons took to the book immediately because they don't value a bedtime book with how it meets their expectations. They have none. So long as the book is fun, they will ask me to read it again and again.

"Jack and the Box" is fun. 5 stars.

Art Spiegelman, the author, learned to read by looking at comics, or so he claims. My little girl learned how to read NO, WOW, HEY, NOW, BAD, even SILLY tonight as we 'read' this little story. As Art would probably write, she LOVED it!

If someone didn't get it, let me decode what this story is about. Or, at least that's my little girl's reading of it. Jack gets a BOX and ALL that follows is a PLAY of Jack's imagination AND Jack IS a SILLY boy. Watch for the REDS - all things RED are creatures of JACK's imagination. Kids should learn not only reading a few simple words but they should also feel encouraged to let their own imagination run silly and explore the unexpected.

Technical details: hard cover, simple but effective drawings, minimal colors, vocabulary well-suited for a 4-6 year old.

Did I mention that my girl enjoyed it? She can't wait for her girlfriends to come visiting so she can go over the story with them. Right now, she's trying to tell it to her mother.

The story being so silly and unboring I can see how we can go over it a few more times and keep practicing some of the simple words.

The 5 stars are awarded because my girl's clearly enjoying it and because she felt so proud for being able to point to me the clue pointing to the Jack's adventures being imaginary (it's the lamp).

"Jack And The Box" by Art Spiegelman (2008)

This is dark-toned children's book from renowned illustrator Art Spiegelman (known for his work on RAW magazine, The New Yorker, the "Maus" graphic novels, and a murky past as an underground cartoonist and Wacky Packs designer) It's very much in keeping with the "Kid's Lit" series he edited -- artful stories that are intended as much for eggheady kids as for their adult minders. In this story, a boy named Jack gets a jack-in-the-box as a present, but soon finds that the toy has a mind of its own. Their interactions are brief, oblique, and sometimes a bit creepy. This seems to play into the same fear that some people have of clowns, where something that's supposed to be "fun" turns out to have a dark, hidden side. I think for the right reader, this would be a great book, although we were a little creeped out by it. Worth checking out ahead of time. (Joe Sixpack, ReadThatAgain book reviews)

I have a very mixed review for this book. First I read it to my 3 year old and she did not like it at all. She thought it was scary and I did too. The pictures of the toy coming out of the box are very disturbing. Next my six year old read it and she really like it and thought it was funny. She has just starting learning to read and she could read most of the words in the book. She even got out a piece of paper and starting writing some of the rhyming words from the book. I could not believe that she was enjoying it so much but she really did sit for a while and read it. Next my 9 year old son read it and he said "this book is really creepy". This is not a book that I enjoyed but if you are having trouble getting a new reader to practice reading it might be a good idea.

If you are familiar at all with the work of Art Spiegelman, at first it might seem strange to see he has created a line of children's books. But after a moments thought and a turn through "Jack And The Box", I found it made sense.

As the author himself states, "I am easily unhinged" and alludes to the fact that he may well be in that state most of the time.

"Jack And The Box" does little to change this impression.

Jack, the titular character is a small child, he is at first scared and surprised by the creature from the box Zack, - but he gradually becomes used to him and demands his presence more and more. Zack obliges, growing more and more imposing each time, eventually showing up with a whole menagerie of uninvited guests who wreak havoc on Jack's home. How like too many parties I have seen.

As a tool for first-time readers, comic or otherwise, I can only guess how helpful it will be. Many people smarter than I have devoted their lives studying how we learn, I would never pretend to understand. My first books were about trucks and airplanes, not a scary creature who may or may not be an allegory of addiction and recovery.

In the end, Jack triumphs over Zack, but seems to have learned his lesson.

I am a huge fan of Spiegelman, I turned more people onto him through "Maus" than would ever have cared or even considered the Holocaust any other way, not as though that's relevant here. And "Shadow Of No Towers" is stunning. Would I like to see my child reading these works? Definitely. Would it warp his world-view? Maybe, but who knows how much "Make Way For The Throughway" affected my own.

When I got this book, I was surprised to see that Art Spiegelman had written a children's book. Although I'm sure it will find an audience with some kids (most likely boys), it lacks the appeal of typical emergent reading material. The "cute factor," which is important in motivating children to read, is missing. The jack-in-the-box is actually pretty scary-looking through alot of the book. The illustrations are cold, missing the charm of more captivating children's books. The reading vocabulary is, however, appropriate.

This book is sort of creepy. That is all it has going for it. The story depicts a new toy box that is given to a young rabbit by his parents. Inside is a creepy clown guy that jumps out and wrecks the house along with some ducks and other assorted weirdos.

Though the illustrations are nice, they are somewhat frightening for young children. Nothing really happens worth a merit throughout the story.

Unless you're a fan of Art Spiegelman I would avoid this book.

Zack, the jack-in-the-box, is a very silly toy. He likes nothing more than having a good laugh at Jack's expense. Not to worry, though, Jack has fun too. And so do my kids and I when we read this book together.

"Jack and the Box" is a lively, quick read members of the six and under set -- at least at my house -- enjoy immensely. The comic book panels are a nice touch. While the tale could easily have worked in a typical story book format the use of cartoon stylings gives the book a fun twist. The panel format seems to make the story move along more quickly than it would otherwise while providing visual cues about who is saying what or who is thinking what. Bottom line: the kids are into it.

It gets four stars because it's a fun, unpretentious, non-sermonizing book that is cleverly drawn and written.

Writing a review for a children's book is a little difficult because the book is written for children, but it's the parent writing the review (and I'm the one who has to read it aloud) - so, please bear with me, while I try to write from both perspectives.

First of all, my son was 3 yrs 1 month at the time that I read this book to him. Some of his other favorites at this age include: Max's Dragon Shirt (Max and Ruby), How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight?, and David Gets in Trouble. My son paid attention through the entire book; he was genuinely interested in "the box." In fact, he told me that he liked the stars on the box, so I guess that was his way of saying he liked the illustrations. When I asked him what his favorite part was, he told me that he thought, "The duck was very funny," especially when he started carrying the broken lamp around, with ducklings everywhere.

For my part, I have mixed feelings about the book. I thought the illustrations were nice; their style reminded me of the old black and white cartoons (even though these illustrations are colored). The story was very original (definitely NOT boring), although the repetition of certain words and phrases was slightly irritating (and more annoying with each time I had to read it to my son). I thought the idea of the comic book design for a children's book was okay; I'm sure comic book collectors would get a kick out of reading this to their children.

However, I'm not thrilled with the idea of introducing the comic book style to my son at such a young age; I don't feel like it would benefit his interest in learning to read. He was more interested in the pictures than trying to figure out the words. As a mom, I think that if my son likes the story, then it's a good book, but as a tutor, I would not recommend this book to any child that can't read yet, or beginning readers.

It gets four stars because of my son's perspective, but because of my own opinions, I don't think it's worth five stars.

Earlier this year when the first batch of Toon titles came out I was less than enthused. The problem as I saw it then was that the titles seemed little more than traditional comic book fare with expensive paper, better printing, and hard covers. I couldn't reconcile the content with the cost and felt that they were best suited for libraries who would do well with studier bindings, not with the general consumer (picture book readers) who would tire of the titles quickly.

Now with the second round of releases I'm finding this less to be the case, but its book specific. Spiegelman's Jack and the Box isn't merely " a first COMIC for brand-new readers" as it says on the cover, it's actually a subtle and sophisticated tool that helps introduce readers to the concepts in reading and understanding comics. It is a primer on comic literacy at the simplest level, and clever. I doubt Spiegelman could have delivered anything less.

The book opens simply enough with a single illustration of Jack (Rabbit) being given a new toy. Two simple word balloons establish the order of both reading left-to-right and lead the viewer's eyes to follow the action accordingly. With a flip of the page we are now presented with a double page spread of four equal sized panels. There's the conflict of the first panel (Jack can't open it), the tension in the second panel (watching the box, waiting for something to happen), the action in the third panel (a clown pops out of the box, jack-in-the-box style, scaring Jack), and a punchline in the fourth panel ("Ha ha!" "What a silly toy!"). With a few words and some simple pictures a first encounter with a jack-in-the-box is turned into the core joke on which all future variations will be built. Since humor is generally derived from the unexpected turn, from the deviation from what is expected or established, Spiegelman can now train young comic readers to learn how to read for visual cues and verbal repetition. It's a winning combination and, to the casual reader, a subtle lesson in how to read comics.

Jack now has a series of comic adventures with the toy, each four panels across the spreads, built on the idea of an uncooperative toy and its unexpected behavior. We've been told it is a very silly toy so we aren't surprised to see it talk back or misbehave. There's the slightest hint of Cat in the Hat style mischief, and a sense of a child's play world being realistic to the child but confusing to adults, which adds another layer to the book. As the comic stories add and build, and the chaos grows, there is a need for release at the end that comes in Jack explaining all that has transpired to his curious parents, the denouement so to speak. Order is restored, and Jack now safely has mastered the silly toy the same way the reader has mastered the complexities of a comic narrative.

While there are other books out there for the picture book crowd that work within the comic framework (Regis Faller's Polo books, for example) there are few that work this hard, this effortlessly to train readers to the art of comic literacy. I hope that Toon continues to build off this lesson with their other titles.