This book is a fun version of "Jack and the Beanstalk", this one being told from the Giant's point of view. The Giant hears a sound and goes off looking for "Jack" who stole his hen. Along the way he asks everyone he sees if they have seen "Jack" who is skinny with read hair. Through the story he meets many "Jacks", but they are from all the other nursery rhymes. "Jack be nimble", "Jack and Jill", "Jack Sprat", and "Little Jack Horner". This book would make a great read-aloud for elementary school. ( )

This story changes the point of view of the classic fairy tale, Jack and the Beanstalk, to the Giant rather than Jack. The Giant searches for Jack to get his magical hen back.

A key feature of this book, is while the Giant is looking for Jack, he keeps running into Jacks from other fairy tales. This could be a discussion point, to see if students are aware of other fairy tales. This story can show students that there are different viewpoints for every situation, also students could write their own twist on a classic fairy tale. This book is entertaining and I think students will remain engaged to see if the Giant ever gets his hen back. ( )

This is a very good book that can be read to younger children and can be an interactive reading to get the children involved. This book is a spin off of the original Jack and the Bean stalk, which can also be read. In The Giant and the Beanstalk, the giant comes down the beanstalk instead of humans climbing the beanstalk in the original. This story also references several nursery rhymes and you could get the children to act them out, which would get them involved and engaged with the book. ( )

This book would be best used as a first-grade interactive read aloud to introduce fantasy books. This book connects to nursery rhymes children may have heard growing up so the story should be familiar to them. I would have the students write about how the giant develops in the book. We would discuss how he changes in the book. Then we would compare and contrast to the original Jack and the Beanstalk.

I would use this story as a read aloud for a third and fourth grade class because it will be a great way to have the students interact and start a discussion. This book shows a new perspective on the tail of Jack and the Beanstalk and I will have the students recall the classic story they all know and then make predictions as to what they believe will happen in this story. I will have them do a quick write before we start reading to record their predictions, then once the story has been finished they can look back at their predictions to see if they were correct. Using this as a read aloud I can have all the students engaged and excited to see where the story will lead to. I believe it will be a great way to introduce students to a new perspective on a classic tale. With a third grade class, I would have them pay attention to the different fairy tale characters that are mentioned in the story when the giant goes looking for Jack. While we read, I will have the students raise their hand when ever they believe a fairy tale character is mentioned. I will then have the students look at the illustration and make a prediction as to what that character's story would be about. This will allow the students to use the illustrations to further understand the story beyond the text. I would have both the third and fourth graders compare and contrast the original Jack and the Beanstalk story to this story. They will compare and contrast the plot of both stories and then describe the character Otto by using examples and describe how this is different from the original stories portrayal of the giant. An activity I would have fourth graders taking part in would be a writing assignment where they would select a popular fairy tale and select a character that is considered the antagonist. They will need to create a story that is told from the antagonists point of view and reveal to the readers exactly why they acted the way they did and show that they were not bad characters at all, but everything was a misunderstanding. This activity will be a great way for students to take a creative spin on a classic story, as well as practice referring to a mentor text to help them write their story. ( )