Product Description

In this hair-raising spoof of "Jack and the Beanstalk," Gary Barwin tells the story of a nosey nose that knows to follow his nose. On the way to market, the nose trades a pair of glasses for a magic mustache. During his adventures, he steals a magic mouth's stash of treasure right out from under its nose and discovers that a nose with a good head on its shoulders can rise to great heights.

This hilarious book contains the best of bad puns and clever wordplay, and will have kids and parents laughing out loud. The characters in the book form the various parts of a face; the nose's parents are a pair of eyes. And, at the story's conclusion, we are left with a warning of the consequences of making faces.

Stephane Jorisch's wonderful illustrations offer whimsical details and add little jokes to be discovered by young readers.

Gary Barwin is an author, poet and composer. His first children's book, "The Racing Worm Brothers," was published in September 1998.

Stephane Jorisch is an award-winning artist and designer whose first title with Annick Press, "The Village of a Hundred Smiles," was nominated for the prestigious Governor General's Award for Illustration in 1998. He resides in Montreal, Quebec.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2027161 in Books
• Published on: 1999-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 32 pages

From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 3-A nose who lives with his parents, two eyes, goes to the market to trade the family's prized pair of eyeglasses for some much-needed food.Instead, he makes a trade with an old ear for a magic mustache that grows a beard that reaches to the sky. The nose climbs the beard, just as Jack, from "Jack and the beard talk," did before him. After two successful journeys in which he steals a golden toothbrush and a magic straw, the nose narrowly escapes the hungry giant mouth with a magic harmonica in tow. All ends well as the various body parts tumble to the ground and form a face (not unlike Mr. Potato Head). Amazingly, the author pulls it all off quite nicely, making the events sound somehow perfectly logical. The text exudes a partly irreverent, partly earnest tone and incorporates lots of wordplay. Appropriately, the art is pure silliness. The watercolor, gouache, and pen-and-ink illustrations show a nose with spindly arms and legs, a baseball cap, sweat socks, and high tops. He plays with his little red wagon, climbs down a ladder, peeks into a soup pot, and engages in all types of human behavior. The playful layout, with lines of type that rise and dip across the pages, adds to the fun. A delightfully wacky romp.
Denise E. Agosto, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
This a rollicking, tongue-in-cheek retelling of the Jack and the Beanstalk fairy tale, full of puns, sly jokes, good humor and above all, nonsense ... The text has the right note of nonsense and a sense of the ridiculous. The illustrations, done in water color, gouache and pen-and-ink, reflect the crazy mixed up universe portrayed here. -- Resource Links, Council for Canadian Learning Resources, Dec 1999

About the Author

Active as a writer, composer and teacher, Gary Barwin is the author of numerous pieces of published poetry and fiction. His books include Grandpa's Snowman and The Racing Worm Brothers. Gary lives in Hamilton, Ontario, with his wife, three children and a dog.

Stéphane Jorisch is an award-winning artist and designer living in Montreal. He is the illustrator of several books, including The Village of a Hundred Smiles and Other Stories and The Trial of the Stone.

Customer Reviews

Old Story With A New Twist
This book is hilarious. It takes the classic tale of Jack and the Beanstalk and twists it around. The play on words throughout the book are easy enough for kids to understand and funny enough to have even adults chuckling. The illustrations are great too. Definite two thumbs up.

Hilarious Spoof of Jack and the Beanstalk!
If you want to get young boys to read sometimes it takes hilarious books like this one! Extremely clever and great illustrations make this a winner. Ranks up there with The Boy Who Ate Around, Parts, and Math Curse. Jack's character is a nose and the beanstalk is played my the magic mustache. Super creative. Great to encourage imaginative stories. A+

Old Story With A New Twist
This book is hilarious. It takes the classic tale of Jack and the Beanstalk and twists it around. The play on words throughout the book are easy enough for kids to understand and funny enough to have even adults chuckling. The illustrations are great too. Definite two thumbs up.