Weaving all these stories together, Sh urtliff give s me the perfect excuse to use a favorite gif. While Jack searches for his Papa, he explores more of the giant world and begins to realize there's a bigger problem. Each chapter is headed by an ex cerpt f rom the tales of Jack the Giant Killer, ou r Jack's so -many-gr eats grandfather, which is a n inter esting way to bring the two stories together.

The connect ions S h urtliff made between the two stories are particularly brilliant. Techni cally a companion novel to Rump, rather th an a dir ect sequel, Jack 's tale takes place in the same world. Shurtlif f adds element s of other fairy tales into Jack 's, intertwi ning Tom Thumb and Thumbelina, and even sprinkling references to The Elves and the Shoemaker and There Was An Old Wo man Who Lived in a Shoe. When the gi ants break through the s ky and steal the farm, the animals, and his Papa away, Jack will have to discover whe ther he 'll be able to live up to the Greatness. Raised on the stories of his heroic patri arch, Jack is determined to live up to his Great name and slay some giants of hi s own. The J acks of their family have always gone on to do big and important things -just look at his great-great-great-great-great-grea t-GREAT grandfather Jack, the Gi an t Killer. The same author who brough t us Rump ( check out my review for that!) endeavors to tell us what really happened in Jack & the Beanstalk -and it's just as fun as her first book.

Jack by liesl shurtliff