CANDACE FLEMING

BOOKS

Clever Jack Bakes a Cake

illus­trat­ed by G. Bri­an Karas
Schwartz & Wade,
August 2010
978–0375849794
ages 4 to 8

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After you’ve read Clever Jack Takes the Cake, try this book:

Clever Jack Takes the Cake

Take a bite out of this deli­cious­ly fun­ny orig­i­nal fairy tale by a best­selling pic­ture-book duo!

What would you do if you were invit­ed to the princess’’s tenth birth­day par­ty but didn’t have mon­ey for a gift? Well, clever Jack decides to bake the princess a cake.

Now he just has to get it to the cas­tle. What could pos­si­bly go wrong?

Can­dace Flem­ing and G. Bri­an Karas, cre­ators of the best­selling pic­ture book Mun­cha! Mun­cha! Mun­cha!, have teamed up again to bring us a mod­ern fairy tale star­ring a deter­mined boy and a sto­ry-lov­ing princess with a good sense of humor. While girls will fall for a sto­ry fea­tur­ing a princess’s birth­day par­ty, Jack’s adven­tures with trolls, bears, and gyp­sies make this the per­fect read for young boys as well — and ide­al for storytime.

Clever Jack Takes the Cake
illus­tra­tion © G. Bri­an Karas, for Clever Jack Takes the Cake, writ­ten by Can­dace Flem­ing, pub­lished by Schwartz and Wade

Resources

Awards and Honors

  • Book­list Edi­tors’ Choice 2010
  • Kirkus Reviews Best Books of 2010
  • Par­ents’ Choice Rec­om­mend­ed Book
  • School Library Jour­nal Best Books of 2010

Reviews

  “Flem­ing and Karas, whose pre­vi­ous col­lab­o­ra­tions include Mun­cha! Mun­cha! Mun­cha! (2002), offer an orig­i­nal fairy tale that has the mak­ings of a sto­ry-hour clas­sic. Jack is thrilled when he receives an invi­ta­tion to the princess’ birth­day par­ty, but he’s too poor to buy a present. Deter­mined to make some­thing instead, Jack trades his ax and quilt for flour and sug­ar, scrounges up more ingre­di­ents, and assem­bles a beau­ti­ful cake, topped with the “red­dest, juici­est” straw­ber­ry in the land. Calami­ty strikes enroute to the cas­tle, though, and after run-ins with four-and-twen­ty black­birds, a troll, a dark for­est, and a danc­ing bear, Jack arrives at the par­ty with only the mag­nif­i­cent straw­ber­ry, which a guard con­fis­cates: the princess is aller­gic. After anx­ious­ly watch­ing the bored birth­day girl receive her presents (‘Anoth­er tiara? How dull.’), Jack con­fess­es that he has only an account of his day to offer. Luck­i­ly, the princess is delight­ed: ‘A sto­ry! And an adven­ture sto­ry at that! What a fine gift!’ Flem­ing writes with rhyth­mic rep­e­ti­tion and deli­cious word choic­es that lend them­selves per­fect­ly to dra­mat­ic nar­ra­tion, while Karas’ gouache-and-pen­cil art expert­ly ampli­fies each scene’s action and mood, and cre­ates endear­ing char­ac­ters in Jack and his new roy­al friend. Like Simms Taback’s Calde­cott Medal win­ner Joseph Had a Lit­tle Over­coat (1999), this stand­out pic­ture book empha­sizes resource­ful­ness and the pow­er and plea­sure of a well-told tale. (Book­list, starred review)

  “A poor boy named Jack who helps a princess is a famil­iar trope in folk­lore. In this orig­i­nal tale, Jack acci­den­tal­ly receives an invi­ta­tion to the princess’s birth­day par­ty. He resource­ful­ly gath­ers ingre­di­ents and bakes a won­der­ful cake. On his way to the cas­tle, the cake is slow­ly demol­ished by crows, a troll, a spooky for­est, a danc­ing bear, and even a palace guard, until the only present Jack has to offer the princess is the sto­ry of the cake’s demise. Of course, this gift pleas­es her much more than the bor­ing rubies and tiaras brought by rich­er guests, and she declares that her new friend will have the hon­or of cut­ting the roy­al cake. This enter­tain­ing adven­ture is packed with action. Karas’s scratchy gouache and pen­cil car­toon illus­tra­tions are as detail-rich as the text itself. From the sly bear to the bored princess, the expres­sions are price­less. The end­pa­pers pro­vide con­text not includ­ed in the text: a par­ty invi­ta­tion blow­ing from the messenger’s bag and under Jack’s door at the begin­ning, and Jack regal­ing a fas­ci­nat­ed princess with more tales at the end. A sol­id choice for most col­lec­tions, and a good sto­ry­time choice, despite the small­ish illus­tra­tions.” (Hei­di Estrin, School Library Jour­nal, starred review)

  “A win­some gouache-and-pen­cil land­scape sets the stage — a hill­top cas­tle, a mes­sen­ger on horse­back, an escaped let­ter flut­ter­ing under the door of a hum­ble cot­tage. Young Jack, poor as dust, finds this mys­te­ri­ous mis­sive — the king’s invi­ta­tion to attend his daughter’s tenth birth­day fes­tiv­i­ties. The boy bakes a cake for the princess, top­ping it proud­ly with the ‘red­dest, juici­est, most suc­cu­lent straw­ber­ry in the land,’ and his obsta­cle-rid­den jour­ney to her par­ty the next day forms the core of this jaun­ty, well-told tale. Of the whole cake, only the straw­ber­ry sur­vives the trip past thiev­ing black­birds, a greedy troll, whis­per­ing woods and a ravenous-yet–fruit-despising bear. When the princess’s guard eats even that, how­ev­er, all the per­pet­u­al­ly undaunt­ed Jack has left to offer the birth­day girl is an elab­o­rate account of his adven­ture. She loves it (and him) most of all, prov­ing that the gift of sto­ry is bet­ter than rubies, espe­cial­ly if the sto­ry has a troll. The sim­ple-but-expres­sive, car­toon­ish illus­tra­tions on tex­tured paper and the delight­ful­ly clever design fur­ther dis­tin­guish this cheer­ful charmer. (Pub­lish­ers Week­ly, starred review)

  “The cre­ators of Mun­cha! Mun­cha! Mun­cha! cel­e­brate sto­ry­telling with a sparkling spec­i­men of that very thing. Too poor to buy a birth­day gift for the princess, Jack decides to make her a cake. He trades for ingre­di­ents, giv­ing a hen seed for two eggs and kiss­ing a cow for a pail of milk, and tops his con­fec­tion with the “most suc­cu­lent straw­ber­ry in the land.” Jack proud­ly sets off for the cas­tle, but black­birds, a troll, and a danc­ing bear devour parts of the cake. He remains upbeat, even when only the berry remains — to which the princess is allergic.

“When Jack explains to the roy­al (who’s bored by the jew­els she’s received) what became of his present, she is delight­ed: ‘A sto­ry! … And an adven­ture sto­ry at that! What a fine gift.’

“Karas’s gouache and pen­cil illus­tra­tions have a folksy qual­i­ty and match the under­stat­ed emo­tions con­jured in Fleming’s prose. With mut­ed tones and sub­tle tex­tures, the pic­tures cap­ture the tale’s humor (the danc­ing bear wears both a fez and a sly expres­sion as it does its ‘shuf­fle-shuf­fle-kick’) and Jack­’s earnest nature.” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review)