Jack and the Beanstalk

Jack and the Beanstalk is a traditional literature book retold and illustrated by Steven Kellogg. This book hasn't won any awards, and this book is geared towards children in the 1st-2nd grade. This book is about a poor young boy Jack, and his mother who is running out of money. Jack goes into town to sell their cow, and on the way, he runs into an old man selling magical beans. Jack trades his cow for these magical beans because the old man says that overnight they'll grow into gigantic beanstalks that reach the sky. When Jack got back, his mother was furious and threw the beans out the window. That next morning, Jack awoke to huge beanstalks in his yard. He climbed them and came across a giant ogre. She decided to let him in her home but hid him from her ogre husband when he came into the room. Jack waited until the husband fell asleep, grabbed a bag of gold, and left. Jack went up and down the beanstalk 3 times in total, and each time he stole something to help his mom. The last time, he almost got caught by the ogre but cut down the beanstalk before the ogre was able to catch him.

I probably wouldn't use this book in my classroom because I personally don't like the story behind it for younger children. I feel as if it gives children the wrong impression since Jack stole from the Ogre's three different times. I think an appropriate grade level for this book would be the 2nd grade, and if I were to use it for my class, I would probably put it in the classroom library and allow children to explore the book on their own, rather than me reading it aloud to the class.