This book is a new version from the original. There's a young boy named Jack during work for his neighbor after school. Jack was paid with multicolored beans. Jack didn't understand why he wasn't getting money. Jack planted the beans he received and woke up the next day with a giant beanstalk outside of his window. Being curious like any other child, Jack started climbing the beanstalk. Jack climb so far up, he saw over his entire city. I can say I definitely wouldn't have gone that far because I'm afraid of heights. That took a lot of bravery for this young kid to do this. Jack kept going unto he reach the top of the beanstalk and saw a big castle. Jack wanted Cookies and he stumbled upon two giants which were a husband and wife. The Giants caught Jack and made him do chores. Jack hated during chores and waited till the wife left and took the Giant's hen which laid golden eggs. The Giants realize Jack stole their hen and followed Jack down the beanstalk not knowing Jack was cutting the beanstalk. The Giants fell to the Ground and they were not giants anymore. Jack was surprised at how their size completely change. Jack neighbor who he was working for came and hugged the man who was a giant and clearly stated that she knew Jack would be the one to get her brother home and he did just that. The man tells Jack how he ended up in the clouds which he got there by making a wish that he can be the biggest and most wealthiest man in the world, so that's what got him and his wife up there. This man wanted to be the wealthiest man but no one but his wife and him was the only one's who knew it. To me thats, not wealth if you can't even share it when the ones you love or care about. ( )

I enjoyed this modern day spin on the classic Jack and the Beanstalk fairy tale. I liked that the plot was very similar to the fairy tale but was slightly modernized. This made it easier to connect to. I liked how Jack could view the entire city from the top of the beanstalk. I realized how high up Jack was because he was looking down on the city houses.
I would have liked the book more if the author spent more time developing the characters in the story. I wish the text would have included more background on Mrs. M. She was only mentioned in the beginning of the text as being the woman Jack worked for and she gave him the beans. By the time she was referenced again at the end of the story I had forgotten who she was.
The main idea of this text is to create a modern version of the classic fairy tale. ( )

I didn’t like this version of the story very much. In this version, the boy cuts the beanstalk down and the giant turns back into a normal man and thanks Jack. I found this to be a little boring. However, the pictures in this book were a lot different from any other Jack and the Beanstalk I have read. The pictures in this book are actual photos, which make the story a little more life-like. In one picture, it shows the sky view of a city while Jack is climbing the beanstalk. The message of this book is to be brave. ( )

“Jack and the Bean Stalk” by Nina Crews is a fun twist on a classic story. In this version a young boy is living in the city when he is given bean plant seeds to plant instead of money for his chores. He eventually plants the seeds and a big stalk sprouts out of his window. After climbing the stalk into the sky Jack is faced with two giants. The main idea of this story is that no matter how small you are you need to stand up for what you want and “face the giants.” One way that the author got this message across was through the pictures. The pictures in this story are real pictures but have been doctored to make the beanstalk reach the sky and the giants bigger than Jack. By doing this the author makes the story much more relatable to the reader. They can still tell that the story is fantasy but they are able to connect with Jack and the giants more because they are actual people. Another way that Crews gets the message across is through the text. Some of the words she uses are in different colors for emphasis. Also, a lot of the onomatopoeias are much larger than the rest of the text including the words crazy, wow, biggest, and FEE FIE FOE FUM. This helps emphasize parts of the book to get the meaning across and pull the reader in. Finally, the facial expressions of the characters greatly add to the meaning of this book. All of the facial expressions on the characters in this book are extremely vivid. I believe that the book could almost be read through without any of the words and the reader would be able to get a good idea of the story. The book does not explicitly state that Jack was scared or the giants looked angry or mad but the expressions on the models faces in the pictures really give the reader the idea of the emotions felt by the characters. The pictures in this book were one of my favorite parts of this book as I have never seen realistic pictures done in such a fun way ( )

The main idea of “Jack and the Bean Stalk” by Nina Crews was to retell the popular oral story with a more modern twist in the illustrations. I enjoyed this book. First, the illustrations were real life pictures of a little boy, buildings and a giant plant as the bean stalk. The pictures were computer animated to fit the size needed to follow the text: the bean stalk was very large, the giants were very large, the little boy was small, etc. I also liked this story because the text was engaging. The words were not simply written across the page; some words like “Wow!” and “Fee, Fie, Foe Fum!” were written larger in color and I believe this made the story more interactive for me as a reader. ( )