Reviews

Splashes of color enliven the whimsical tale of a lazy fool who cheers a dour princess. Ages 4-8 . (September)

PreS-Gr 3 Many children will know from other versions of this tale that Jack is so lazy that he will do nothing but bask in the sun. This newest Jack goes the usual round of jobs (he loses the gold coin, puts the milk in his pocket, carries the cheese home on his head, and so on). However, Ross adds some very Monty Pythonish touches: Jack goes to work in a hot dog factory ``where he was given a cat as his pay.'' And there is Jack at the wheel of a machine spewing forth piles of pink hot dogs, while the butcher stuffs an assortment of tail-ends (some pink, some curly, some hairy) into the grinder. Of course, Jack eventually makes the princess laugh, and he gets to marry her, which makes him happy because he never has to work again. It's all done with Ross' usual manic line, and his strong color sense creates enormously light-spirited fun. Some would invite a comparison between this and Lorenz' Big Gus and Little Gus (Prentice-Hall, 1982), but they are both really variants with a unique approach to the source material. Christina L. Olson, Beverly Hills Public Library