BEYOND THE BEANSTALKAll New Southern Tales about Jack the Giant Killer"You can almost hear the crickets chirping and the rocking chair creaking on the cabin porch as you listen to Robert Hudson's distinctly Southern voice spinning out these trickster tales reminiscent of the Jack tales retold by Richard Chase in the middle of the last century."As long as there have been stories, Jack has been climbing more than beanstalks, and Hudson mines an amazingly deep repertoire of antique world folktales for these fresh retellings. He has found Jack traipsing through Babylon and ancient Sumer, trekking through Malaysia and Japan, and wandering through tales told by Homer, by Taoist monks, and by Pliny the Younger. The trickster shows up in fables by Aesop and supping at King Arthur's Round Table."As you hearken to the narrative of Jack's vanquishing of giants, his confrontations with otherworldly intimidators and real-world oppressors, you'll recognize his picaresque encounters as archetypal episodes that represent the deepest human fears even while they embody the greatest of human comforts-story."- Donald R. Hettinga is the author of The Brothers Grimm: Two Lives, One Legacy and the coeditor of Sitting at the Feet of the Past: Retelling the North American Folktale for Children. He teaches children's literature at Calvin University.

The story of Jack, the intrepid boy whose courage and ingenuity defeated a host of many-headed giants, has been told to children for hundreds of years. In 1842, when he was just 18, Richard Doyle, whose natural talent for draftsmanship was matched by imaginative invention and a passion for legend and the grotesque, created a picture-book version of Jack the Giant Killer, with hand-written text and a watercolor within a pictorial border decorating every page. It has remained one of the most beloved versions of this timeless tale. In this new Everyman's edition, Doyle's vivid, wonderfully engaging illustrations have been enlarged and the text has been given greater legibility. It is a book that will satisfy both the child's delight in scariness, wonder, and magic, and the collector's pleasure in classic Victorian illustration.

Step into a world of fantasy and poetry with "Jack the Giant Killer" by Percival Leigh. This enchanting collection brings together juvenile poems, fairy tales, and humorous tales that captivate the imagination. Leigh's lyrical prose and whimsical storytelling make this a delightful read for both children and adults alike. Whether you're revisiting childhood favorites or discovering these tales for the first time, this book promises a magical journey.

Bring myths and legends alive in your classroom. *20 myths and legends from across the UK are presented here as model texts for teaching writing in Key Stages 1 and 2; *Teaching ideas and activities are included in all chapters alongside writing tasks for your class, based on parts of the stories; *The activities support children to bring their own voices alive through their writing; *They are encouraged to imagine characters, create settings, develop storylines and weave themes and challenges into their narratives. A ′how to′ guide for teaching children in primary schools to write their own myths and legends.

A re-creation of the tale, Jack, the Giant-killer, set in 20th century Canada. "The Jack of this version ... is Jacky Rowan--a young woman who leads a fairly predictable life until a brush with magic gives her the ability to see into the Faerie world that exists alongside our world.... Soon she becomes a guerrilla in a war of magic as the darker denizens of Faerie... struggle to destroy the brighter creatures of magic. If they succeed, all the city, human and otherworldly alike, will be plunged into nightmare. ...[T]here is a quest to undertake, a treasure to claim, giants to defeat. But unlike the villains of childhood stories, these Faerie creatures are real, and deadly. And there is no guarantee of ending happily ever after." -- Jacket flap.