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Crazy Jack |
List Price: $15.95
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Reviews |
Description:
Donna Jo Napoli's fiction for teens often puts a contemporary twist on old fairy tales, offering new depth and psychological insight. In previous young adult novels she has retold "Hansel and Gretel" from the point of view of the witch (The Magic Circle) and the story of "Rapunzel" from a multitude of perspectives (Zel), and has turned the tale of "Rumpelstiltskin" inside out (Spinners). Here she follows the traditional story of "Jack and the Beanstalk" pretty closely--the cow traded for magic beans, the vast beanstalk reaching up a cliff, and the cannibalistic giant chanting "Fee, fi, fo, fum" are all present. But Napoli enriches the tale with a romance between Jack and a neighbor girl and the mysterious disappearance of Jack's father, all told in vibrant poetic language and studded with authentic details of country life in the 1500s. On another level, she adds resonance to the narrative by creating an oedipal dimension--a disturbing buried suggestion that the devouring giant is a dangerous aspect of Jack's otherwise loving father. In the same manner, the giant's wife, who feeds Jack luscious food and hides him from the giant, recalls his own mother in the aspect of temptress. All this is very subliminal, but even younger readers will feel the mythological power as they devour this exciting story. (Ages 10 to 14) --Patty Campbell
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