Jack the Giant Killer

Percival LeighProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.8

Word count: 53K words
Chapters: 6

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Jack the Giant Killer by Percival LeighAuthor: Leigh, Percival, 1813-1889,Language: English, Class: PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres, Release Date: Feb 26, 2014

Editor's review

This is a children's book retold by Percival Leigh from the English folk tale Jack the Giant Killer, a public-domain ebook in the category of children's literature. The story retains the classic motifs of giants, heroes, and triumph through wit; the language is aimed at young readers, the plot moves directly, and it works well as a light reader of English folk tales. Its value lies in presenting the narrative voice and moral sensibility of Victorian children's literature and in allowing comparison with different versions of giant stories. It is best read as a story text rather than as historical or folkloristic scholarship; parents or teachers can use it to discuss courage, cleverness, and the difference between exaggeration and fact, and to guide children in noticing violence and period attitudes in older texts.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Upper-primary children with some English foundation, for extracurricular English story reading
English teachers and parents, as supplementary material for folk tales or graded readers
Lovers of children's literature and folk tales, interested in early adaptations of classic stories
Readers doing comparative story reading, to set against other versions of the giant story

Not a good fit for

Very young children, as some conflict and violent episodes need adult screening or explanation
Scholars expecting rigorous folklore scholarship, as this is an adapted story rather than an academic edition
Complete beginners with no English who need Chinese-annotated readers

Reading tips

Read through once for the plot, then select sentences of the giant's dialogue and action descriptions for reading aloud practice.
When reading with a child, discuss whether Jack wins through strength or cleverness, and connect this to real life to talk about the boundaries of bravery.
Find another version of a giant story for comparison, list similarities and differences in plot, and make a simple comparison chart.
When encountering old-fashioned expressions or exaggerated descriptions, first guess the meaning from context, then look up words, without parsing every word.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

What age of child is this book suitable for?

In terms of text difficulty, it suits upper-primary children who can already read simple English stories; younger children can have it read to them by parents, with episodes screened. The book involves conflict with giants and violent descriptions, so parents should look through it first and decide, based on the child's tolerance, whether to read together or skip certain passages.

How should the violent episodes be handled?

This is a common element of folk tales, and the adaptation keeps it fairly direct. When reading together, you can explain the exaggerated storytelling tradition, distinguish fictional episodes from real behaviour, and guide the child to focus on Jack's cleverness and judgment rather than imitating means of confrontation. If the child is sensitive, tell the outline first, then choose gentler passages to read.

Can this book be used to learn English?

Yes, but it is better as extensive reading and interest material. Its sentences are not long and the plot is clear, which helps build reading fluency; however, old-fashioned expressions and spellings do not fully conform to contemporary textbook norms. It is best to focus on understanding the story, pick a few sentences for reading aloud and retelling, and not treat it as a systematic grammar textbook.

Is it the same story as the common Jack and the Beanstalk?

It is not the same story, but both belong to the English folk-tale tradition of Jack and giants, sharing some motifs. This book is titled Jack the Giant Killer, and its plot differs from Jack and the Beanstalk. For comparative reading, you can look at the character setup and endings of the two versions side by side, taking care not to conflate them.

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About the author

Percival Leigh Author · British · 1813–1889

Percival Leigh (1813–1889) was a British satirist and humorist. Born in Haddington, Scotland, he studied medicine at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London. He was known for treating serious subjects of instruction in a playful manner: in 1840 he co-authored The Comic Latin Grammar and The Comic English Grammar with John Leech, turning grammatical rules into comedy, and he also wrote Comic Arithmetic and Jack the Giant Killer. The following year he became one of the founding contributors to Punch, and was the last surviving member of its early contributors. Public information is limited, but his works show a distinctive style that combines educational content with comic humour.