Traditional tale of Jack and The Beanstalk told in a straightforward way. This version would be most appropriate for reading to first graders. Since its a bit longer than other typical children's books, Kindergarteners might not be able to sit through the whole book. It would be better to read it in sections to a K class. Uses in classroom:
-read aloud during unit on traditional literature, or fairytales
-discussion about traditional literature: have students make connections between this book, and others in the same genre
-get students to make predictions about the plot during the reading
-have students think about and discuss the moral lesson

Age: Primary, Intermediate
Media: Watercolors

The genre of this book is folktales/fairy tales. Jack and the Beanstalk is one of the most famous fairy tales of all time, and even though this is not the original version, it is still a magical tale that has been retold many times. The main character in this book is Jack. We don't learn a whole lot about who he really is in the story, but we do learn that he has a great deal of courage. He is a round character because we do learn about him and he has more than one level though. The theme of this story is to have courage. Jack has courage in this story when he goes up to the top of the beanstalk.

This is a classic old story, about a poor family who needs to sell their last possession of any value in order to eat. Jack is tricked, and mom is mad when she finds out that Jack has been tricked into giving up their cow for some beans. Mom throws out the beans and over night the beans grow into a giant bean stalk. Jack climbs up the bean stalk and rescues the hen that lays the golden eggs, and the magical harp. We all know that the giant falls to his death and Jack and his mother live happily ever after.

This book could be used to talk about responsibility, hunger, survival, maybe even read the follow up book .... "Look out Jack! the Giant is Back!"and discuss the two of them together, or talk about other stories that could have a second "chapter" written with to them and maybe have the class take another classis and write another part to it.

3P. (Art is a little on the drab side and might not appeal to those children who gravitate more towards colorful and/or visually interesting presentation.) RC: Some playing around with fonts and text, but overall a fairly conventional telling of a familiar tale. Ages 5 and up. ( )

Primary Students