This Is the House That Jack Built

Jack builds a house and the first item in it is a piece of cheese. In each new verse, an animal or person is added until the house is bursting with activity. So is it any wonder why the house is still for sale?

Multi-media illustrations are Taback's signature style and they are a great fit for this book. There's a folksy, disjointed feeling throughout, and it's fun to read together as kids understand the cumulative pattern of the story.

Brilliantly colored illustrations in “mixed-up media” as explained by Taback, give a fresh take on the traditional repeating rhyme. Not only does the story build on each age, but Taback’s little comments inserted in the illustrations are what really make this story fun to read. Will be appreciated by older kids (2nd, 3rd, 4th).

This book is a lot like the old lady who swallowed a fly. It starts with the cheese that lay in the house that jack built. Then there is a rat that ate the cheese. Then there is a cat that killed the rat that ate the cheese that lay in the house that jack build. It goes on and on like this and I think it is a very fun book for kids.

Delightful! This familiar poem, with patterns and repetitions, ripe for group participation, is accompanied by fun, colorful illustrations! Another winner by Simms Taback.

What I liked about this book was the playfulness of the illustrations. They're very colorful, bold, use type as art within the picture and should be very appealing to children, and adults. (The rat that ate the cheese is particularly appealing).
It's the familiar children's rhyme that kids continue to love today.
And, what was really interesting was the little blurb at the end that told of Randolph Caldecott illustrating this story back in1878 (which lead me to figure out that this was the Caldecott whose name is used on the Caldecott medal). Very cool.
Thumbs up!

I have a love hate relationship with Simms Taback, but I do love his version of this story.

I find the book painfully repetitive but most kids I know absolutely adore this book.