Jack: the True Story of Jack & the Beanstalk

Jack:the True Story of Jack & the Beanstalk by Liesl Shurtliff, 296 pages

"All his life, Jack has longed for an adventure, so when giants turn up in the neighbor's cabbage patch, he is thrilled! Soon Jack is chasing them to a land beyond the clouds, with his little sister, Annabella, in tow. The kingdom of giants is full of super-sized fun: puddings to swim in, spoons to use as catapults, monster toads to carry off pesky little sisters. . . .  But Jack and Annabella are on a mission. The king of the giants has taken something that belongs to them, and they'll do anything--even dive into a smelly tureen of green bean soup--to get it back."  I really liked this story.  The basic original story is all there but there is plenty of original material.  The characters are great and kids who like fairy tale retellings or adventure stories will enjoy it.

Fables Volume 1

Fables, the Deluxe Edition Volume 1 by Bill Willingham, 248 pages

This book series came highly recommended by fellow blogger Kara K. It was sold to me as storybook characters that have been forced out of their native lands and into modern society. It is a very long series though it is done as a full color graphic novel.

I know that you should never judge a book by its cover but the first time I saw this book I took a small disliking to it. Something about the cover made it seem more childish or cartoony than I was expecting. But since it was recommended and a graphic novel I gave it a try.

It starts off a little weird but quickly builds into a decent story with somewhat likeable and believable characters. There were some that I didn’t recognize which story book they came from though. By the end I wanted to keep reading, if nothing else because it will be interesting to see where the author goes from here.