Jack and the Beanstalk

Title: Jack and the Beanstalk
Genre: Traditional Literature
Author: Emma Fucci
Major Awards: None
Age Group: Pre-K-1st Grade

This story is about a young boy named Jack. He lives with his mother, and they do not have much money at all. All they have to their name is a cow, but one day the cow stopped producing milk. Jack's mother told Jack to go and give the cow to whoever could offer him the most money. Jack ran into a butcher who traded him the cow for five beans. Jack returns home to his mother who is furious for bringing home "worthless beans", and throws them out the window. The next morning, Jack awoke to find a large beanstalk had grown out his window. Curious, he climbs the beanstalk, which leads to a castle with a wealthy king and queen. Here, Jack steals coins from the king. At the end, the king tries to catch Jack on his way back to his home, but Jack's mother cuts the end of the beanstalk, killing the king. They end up keeping the coins and never have to worry about money again. 

I would like this story in my classroom, but there are some parts of the story that I do not necessarily agree with. While it is a classic children's novel, I think that this particular version portrays the message that true happiness comes from an abundance of wealth. At the ending, it shows a very happy mother and Jack, and states that they "never again had to wish for more money." This ending gave me a bad taste in my mouth, portraying the message that happiness lies in having a lot of money. I feel that nobody was happy in the story until the ending, when an abundance of money was acquired. If I did have this book in my classroom, I would take it as a great opportunity to teach that, yes, money is needed to live, but it is not where true happiness lies. While it is a cute story, I wish it had not focused so much on the money bringing happiness aspect. 

I think that this book would be appropriate for students starting in Pre-K, and ending in First Grade. There are some scenes with the king that can be a little scary, so I think that by Pre-K, students would not be as scared. The illustrations in the book are very fun and well developed, and the story is written in a way that these young students understand. The words are all very short, making it easy for young readers to read on their own. 

I think it would be neat to have students write about what they would do if they climbed a beanstalk and discovered gold. This would be a good creative writing assignment to get students thinking about money and what they think it should be used for. I also think that it would be fun to give students green tissue paper and have them design a beanstalk. I could take a picture of them in a climbing stance and place it on top of the beanstalk, making it look like they actually climbed it.