Jack Outwits the Giants »

Paul Brett Johnson grew up in the small town of Mousie, Kentucky, listening to stories about Jack, the boy-hero who stars in a series of Appalachian folk tales. In Jack Outwits the Giants, he has drawn on this rich Appalachian heritage to bring the humor and energy of the Jack stories to life.

Paul Brett Johnson is a two-time recipient of the Kentucky Bluegrass Award and the creator of more than fifteen picture books, including Fearless Jack, which was named one of the New York Public Library's "One Hundred Books for Reading and Sharing" and The Cow Who Wouldn't Come Down, which was a School Library Journal Best Book and an ABA Kids' Pick of the Lists. Paul lives in Lexington, Kentucky, where he is currently at work on his third Jack Tale.

"Back some time ago in Appalachia, when folks still had to worry about giants and unicorns and such, there lived a boy named Jack."

Jack's caught in a downpour one day and finds a farmhouse in which to spend the night. But there's something funny about the big giant-woman and the big two-headed giant-man who own the place. What are they up to?

How Jack outwits those big old giants and saves his own hide is the heart of this funny tall tale from the award-winning creator of Fearless Jack.

Publishers Weekly

Down-home storytelling and comic pictures of silly giants enliven Johnson's (Fearless Jack) newest tale of the Appalachian boy-hero Jack. Trapped by a two-headed giant who threatens to fry him for breakfast, Jack outwits the foolish behemoth and his wife with a series of tricks, from squeezing milk from a stone (he has concealed a milkweed pod in his hand) to fibbing about a sheriff's posse that is coming to search for them ("I told you we shouldn't of eat them two deputies," the giant's wife wails. "Now we're in for it!"). Johnson's paintings make hay with the warts and snaggle-teeth of the giant's two faces ("both of 'em mud-fence ugly") as he licks his lips and tries to best the visitor introduced as "tender young Jack." The boy's trusty hound hovers in the background, his expressive face a lively barometer of the mood. The climactic illustrations show Jack convincing the two giants to hide down in the well, then kicking up "the awfullest ruckus you ever heard" to imitate the sound of the approaching posse; in the end, Jack cuts the bucket rope with a handy ax. This snappy story delivers a giant-size good time. Ages 4-8. (June) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.