Jack and the Meanstalk - Softcover

Brian Wildsmith

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0192723138 ISBN 13: 9780192723130

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1997

Synopsis

Professor Jack was impatient because his beans wouldn't grow big enough for him. He invented a magic formula in his laboratory, and the next day he was amazed to see a huge beanstalk sprouting up. It grew so big it smashed through his roof and went right up to the sky. The army and the air-force tried to destroy it, but it went up and up into space, and terrible monsters came to live in it. No one knew what to do, and no one knew how to stop the monsters from coming down the Meanstalk and destroying the planet Earth.

About this title

From the Inside Flap

ll color. When a scientist named Jack brings his garden into the laboratory, anything can happen--and does. Overnight, a massive beanstalk breaks through the roof, shooting for the sky and attracting the attention of television crews, fighter planes, a satellite, and even a space monster. Finally, the animals on earth decide enough is enough and gnaw at the beanstalk's roots, ending its threat to the world and all living creatures. "Wildsmith's vividly colored, double-page paintings embellish this simply told story that demonstrates how the importance of caring about the Earth and the potential danger of trying to improve on Mother Nature."--School Library Journal.

From Publishers Weekly

In their fifth collaboration, the British team revisits the famous beanstalk for a postmodern, politically correct fable. Professor Jack, a scientist, makes the mistake of messing with Mother Nature. In an effort to speed the growth of his garden, he concocts a chemical fertilizer, but the experiment runs awry when a "meanstalk" stoked on steroids bursts through his laboratory rooftop into the ozone. Soon, the fearsome foliage begins to block the sun. A number of story elements--including a media blitz and a monster from outerspace--are yanked from the plot in a sorely anticlimactic conclusion. But the psychedelic, Pucci-esque illustrations more than compensate: kaleidoscopic patterns blast off of the best pages. Brian Wildsmith, a recipient of the Kate Greenaway Medal, and his daughter create a candyland world, where Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band would feel right at home. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0192723138
• ISBN 13: 9780192723130
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 26
• Illustrator: Rebecca Wildsmith