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Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Monmouth Public Library | J 398.2 JOHNSON | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
How Jack outsmarts the giant to save his own hide is the heart of this whimsical tall tale from the award-winning creator of Fearless Jack. Full-color illustrations.
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 2-One stormy day, young Jack takes shelter at the cabin of a pair of giants and uses his wits to escape with his hide. The giantess and her two-headed husband want him for a snack in the worst way but after he cleverly survives their first dastardly plan, they're afraid he might be "witched," so they set him some tasks to prove himself unfit for consumption. By "milking" a rock (really a milkweed pod) and ingenuously offering to move a stream, he astonishes his captors. Then Jack convinces them to hide in the well while the sheriff and posse investigate his disappearance. And, as "a giant's well hasn't got a bottom to it," that pair of giants "is still falling, like as not." Jack, in his cap and britches, is an ordinary lad, especially in contrast to the towering giantess and to her hirsute husband. The acrylic illustrations firmly ground this tall tale in Appalachia and capture its folksy feel-from Jack's bemused hound-dog companion to the giant's checkerboard pants. The liberal use of similes and metaphors, as well as the moderate but humorous dialect, assure a fun read-aloud. From the eye-catching cover of the two-headed giant licking his lips as he contemplates Jack to the author's note briefly tracing the "Jack Tale" tradition, this down-home yarn is a fine sequel to Fearless Jack (McElderry, 2001) and a solid stand-alone addition to trickster-tale storytimes.-Carol Ann Wilson, Westfield Memorial Library, NJ (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Down-home storytelling and comic pictures of silly giants enliven Johnson's (Fearless Jack) newest tale of the Appalachian boy-hero Jack. Trapped by a two-headed giant who threatens to fry him for breakfast, Jack outwits the foolish behemoth and his wife with a series of tricks, from squeezing milk from a stone (he has concealed a milkweed pod in his hand) to fibbing about a sheriff's posse that is coming to search for them ("I told you we shouldn't of eat them two deputies," the giant's wife wails. "Now we're in for it!"). Johnson's paintings make hay with the warts and snaggle-teeth of the giant's two faces ("both of 'em mud-fence ugly") as he licks his lips and tries to best the visitor introduced as "tender young Jack." The boy's trusty hound hovers in the background, his expressive face a lively barometer of the mood. The climactic illustrations show Jack convincing the two giants to hide down in the well, then kicking up "the awfullest ruckus you ever heard" to imitate the sound of the approaching posse; in the end, Jack cuts the bucket rope with a handy ax. This snappy story delivers a giant-size good time. Ages 4-8. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
(Primary, Intermediate) In a companion volume to Johnson's Fearless Jack (rev. 9/01), the trickster hero repeatedly hoodwinks a two-headed, slow-witted giant and his wife. The sourcing here is vague, simply recalling the European origins of the Appalachian ""Jack Tales,"" but the motifs are familiar from many traditions: escaping a murderous club by setting up an alternate victim occurs in Joseph Jacobs's ""Molly Whuppie"" (the substitute here is a feed-sack dummy); Finn McCool bests a giant by seeming to squeeze milk from a stone; while Richard Chase's Jack simulates an avenging mob by making ""a terrible racket."" Johnson interweaves several such incidents while bringing an authentic mountain twang to his telling and excising most of the gore. Outwits is the operative verb here until the very end, when Jack, having persuaded the giants to hide in their well to evade an imaginary posse, cuts the rope towhich they are clinging; and since ""a giant's well hasn't got a bottom to it[,] that pair of giants is still falling, like as not."" Boyish, overalled Jack is accompanied once again in the illustrations by his appealingly expressive hound. Johnson's lively acrylics leave no doubt that these events are as comical as they are suspenseful; the equally lively dialogue makes this an especially good candidate for telling or reading aloud. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Even extra heads are no help when it comes to a battle of wits with Jack. Forced to seek shelter from a storm with a giant woman and her two-headed, "mud fence ugly," husband, the young traveler soon discovers that his prospects don't extend past breakfast unless he can convince his hosts that he's witched. Johnson (Fearless Jack, 2001, etc) gives his woolly haired, overall-clad trickster a pair of oversized adversaries with mottled skin, green nails, zero fashion sense--and an increasingly avid look that clearly spells out their ill intentions. But after convincing them that he can squeeze milk from a rock and other wonders, Jack's warning that the sheriff's coming sends the panicked pair diving into their well--and "they say a giant's well hasn't got a bottom to it." Told in a folksy style that fits both tale and pictures perfectly, this Appalachian folk hero's latest escapade should win him plenty of new fans. (author's note) (Picture book/folktale. 7-9) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Ages 4-8. Acrylic paints applied in spotches and daubs pelt the background of the first double spread, drenching young Jack and his hound when they are caught in an Appalachian downpour. A remote farmhouse beckons, but inside reside a two-headed giant and his wife, who hanker for a meaty diversion from cornmeal mush. If Jack is to save his skin from the skillet, he must foil the giants' sinister intentions. Appalachian dialect, down-home common sense, and quick-thinking Jack's nimble wit provide humor and a just resolution to the precarious predicaments. When faced, for example, with the impossible task of toting a giant-size water bucket, Jack reacts calmly: «Thought I'd just carry the creek up there so you wouldn't have to walk so far for wash water.» When the wife protests, Jack responds, «Well, if you won't let me carry the creek up there, I'm sure not going to fool with one little ol' bucket.» The hilariously hideous giant and his wife heighten the fun in this bright, new twist to a familiar folktale. Ellen Mandel.