Jack's Back! A Bean, A Stalk, and A Boy Named Jack by William Joyce

Once upon a time, there was trouble, right here in Royal City. Not famine or fire or feuding, exactly, but still big trouble.

THE KING'S ROYAL PINKY
HAD BECOME STINKY!

The rains hadn't come in quite a while, and well, frankly, the King was as stinky as the rest of the unwashed peasants in the kingdom..

At first he sent for noblemen and women and ordered them to weep and wail until he collected enough tears for a bit of a wash! But there's a limit to tears, even under duress! And besides, the Princess is totally embarrassed by the whole thing.

People begged the Royal Wizard to do something!

"PUL-LEEZE!"

And...

THERE WAS A SMALLISH GREEN BEAN, AS REGULAR AS THEY COME.

And...

THERE WAS ALSO A SMALLISH KID

WITH THE SMALLISH NAME OF JACK

AND A SMALLISH COW. NO GREAT SHAKES.

Everyone knows what happens when a smallish boy gets his hands on a smallish bean, and this Jack soon has an enormous beanstalk. There's nothing left to do but climb it, and so he does.

At the top he follows some impressive plumbing until he comes to a room and sees a giant bathtub full of giant bubbles, and lolling in the suds, he sees ...

A SMALLISH GIANT KID NAMED DON.

Jack thinks it's time to make a deal.

"SO, DON--"

"YES, JACK?"

"BEEN IN THE TUB LONG?"

"A LONG TIME. MY PINKY WAS STINKY."

Jack thinks he's found the reason that the rains haven't fallen on the kingdom. He and Don's mom agree that it's past time to pull the plug on bath boy.

It's down the drain with Don's bathwater and Jack, as the water cascades down the beanstalk, and soon the kingdom has plenty. The king's pinky is no longer stinky, and Jack and Princess Blah ("You can call me Jill!") find they share a mutual fondness for water pails.

Everyone lives happy (or at least clean) ever after, sorta, in William Joyce's fractured take on the venerable Jack tale, A Bean, a Stalk and a Boy Named Jack (Monobot/Atheneum Books, 2014). Nobody gets eaten or even chased down a beanstalk here, but with tongue in cheek, Joyce's narration, assisted well by the quirky and clever cartoon illustrations of Kerry Callicutt, pokes gentle fun at the familiar fairy tale which will tickle some giggles out of folktale-savvy young readers. Says Kirkus, "Joyce and Callicutt royally fracture the familiar folk tale in this high-concept romp."

Pair this one with Tomie dePaola's rewrite of the Jack tale, in his brand-new picture book, Jack

Self-Esteem on Steroids: King Hugo's Huge Ego by Chris Van Dusen

LONG AGO WHEN PEOPLE SPOKE
WITH WORDS LIKE "THOU" AND "THEE,"
THERE LIVED A KING NAMED HUGO
WHO WAS NO MORE THAN THREE FEET THREE.

AND THOUGH THIS MINI-MONARCH
STOOD NO HIGHER THAN AN ELF,
HIS EGO WAS ENORMOUS--
HE THOUGHT HIGHLY OF HIMSELF.

Literally and figuratively, King Hugo has the original big head, sitting precariously on his minuscule body. But Hugo is blind to his own faults, physical and otherwise. Each week he submits his unfortunate subject to his "Speech of Adoration," in which he glorifies himself to the skies, while his people stifle the urge to barf and kneel at the times he deigns appropriate. After all, they know that failure to show proper obeisance is a one-way ticket to the executioner's block.

That is, they all know it except for Tessa, a spirited peasant girl with special talents. When Hugo orders her and her flock out of his royal way and knocks her into the roadside mud, Tess has had it with her swell-headed sovereign.

"...O COCKY KING
IN ROBES OF RUBY RED,
LET'S SEE IF ALL YOUR ARROGANCE
CAN FIT INSIDE YOUR HEAD."

Tessa's curse is potent, and every time King Hugo opens his mouth in self-glorification, his head increases in size, and soon his noggin is enormous, too big for his tiny body to support and he has to be towed around like some runaway Thanksgiving parade hot-air balloon.

Many indignities to Hugo's royal person ensue, and eventually the egotistical king gets the message and apologizes to the beauteous and apparently magical Tessa.

"I'VE BEEN UNKIND AND RUDE.
PLEASE STAY WITH ME AND TEACH ME HOW
TO CHANGE MY ATTITUDE.

Chris Van Dusen's King Hugo's Huge Ego ((Candlewick, 2011) provides a comeuppance for the supercilious sovereign and a romantic ending for Tessa and Hugo to boot, a satisfying conclusion to his latest kid-pleasing rib tickler. Van Dusen's rhymes are sprightly and his strong comic style, filled with humorous visual asides, will keep kids chuckling all the way to the final page. "...a terrific mélange of satire, slapstick, and caricature, all served up with expert comic timing," says Publishers Weekly.