Steven Kellogg is one of my favourtie illustrators and his version of “Jack and the Beanstalk” does not disappoint me. The story is from the basic fairy tale with which most readers are familiar. The author supplies a note telling readers that the book is based on an 1889 version titled “English Fairy Tales.” In the story, Jack trades his family’s last means of support, an old cow, for five magical beans. When the beans grow into a towering beanstalk, Jack climbs into the clouds and risks fooling a giant to steal valuables on three different occasions.
Kellogg’s illustrations fill the pages of “Jack and the Beanstalk” with colour, mood, fine details and imagination. Kellogg’s animated characters are very expressive and action seems to flow with lines and colours on every page. Each corner of every page of this book is filled with stars, or stairs, or candles, or cats, or Jack poking his head out of an oven. The giant is illustrated as a monstrous, angry, creature that is out for blood, while Jack is pictured as a handsome, happy young man who is obviously out for adventure.
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