Clever Jack Takes the Cake

Jack is poor but clever and when he gets an invitation to the princess's birthday party, he's determined to go, even though he doesn't have a present or the money to buy one. Instead, with lots of hard work, sacrifice, and a little cleverness, he bakes her the most wonderful cake.
Then he sets out for the party...but on the way, his cake disappears one piece at a time. When he finally arrives, he has nothing but a story to tell, which turns out to be exactly what the princess wants.
From an adult point of view, one wonders why a poverty-stricken peasant boy finds it necessary to give a present to the princess who is receiving gold, jewels, and tiaras. The invitation doesn't say anything about a present, but Jack's mother is quite sure he show more needs one - which turns out to be true, when the princess's first words are "and what have you brought me?" plus, if all the children in the kingdom are invited, they can't all be bringing gold and jewels - what are the other poor children bringing. But, of course, that's the adult point of view.
Children are unlikely to see the socioeconomic implications of the story. Yes, I spent too much time in college analyzing fairy tales, obviously. This completely original story has the cadence and elements that make folk tales so alluring to children. The rhythmic language, the building up of events to various conclusions, and the satisfying ending of the plot.

Karas' simple illustrations focus on Jack's feelings as he experiences a series of disasters, the princess's bored face, and the various creatures Jack encounters rather than the background, focusing the story on the different characters.

Verdict: This is a longer picturebook, but because of the plot it will work fine even with very young children. Recommended. show less

Nice twist for feminists & others interested in gender issues. Funny, wise, just long enough to be a full-blown story. Good vocabulary words like 'chittered' and 'concertina.' Cumulative style homage to many of the popular tropes of common folktales. Fun to read aloud. Apt & heartwarming 'surprise' ending.

Jack is back in another tale of cleverness overcoming obstacles. In this whimsically illustrated book, however, Jack does not use his famous wits to outdo evil foes. Instead, he devises a plan to make sure he has a birthday present to bring to the princess and continually revises it as he is persuaded to share parts of the gift with various characters along his journey to the castle. Read it just for the fun of the story, or read it as a reminder that no matter how little you have, you always have enough to share.

Genre: Fantasy
This awesome book is about an adorably sweet and hard working boy who wants to make a cake for the princess even though he has nothing of "value" to give her. He works hard to get all the ingredients he needs, then makes a beautiful cake just for the princess. As he travels to the castle many events lead to a crazy adventure and when he reaches the princess's party he has nothing left but the story of what happened. The princess is overwhelmed with joy as he tells his story and loves the gift of the tale more than any other material gift she is given. I loved this book and I think it would be a great way to show students how valuable it can be to share stories with others and to get them excited about reading. I definitely show more want to buy this book for my classroom library. The media is pencil drawings and oil pastels. show less

Quite terrific. Poor Jack makes the princess a lovely cake for her birthday, but everything goes wrong as he travels the kingdom with it. I'm looking for readalouds for older kids and this one is great.

This book really gave me a warm feeling. I was feeling so bad for Jack and hoping and hoping he would make it to that party. And he did, and although he had nothing physical, he had the best gift she ever received, an adventurous story. The rubies and tiaras in the world could not top Jack's gift of storytelling. This book can teach children about the simple things in life and the power, fun and gifts in storytelling. I would definitely use this book to teach a lesson about storytelling.

Fleming, C. & Karas, G.B. (2010). Clever Jack Takes the Cake. New York: Random House.

Appetizer: Jack, along with all the other children in the kingdom, has been invited to the princess's tenth birthday party. Since he doesn't have any riches to offer as a gift, he decides to bake the princess a cake. But on the way to the castle, Jack encounters some trouble. So much trouble that he can't be certain he'll arrive with the cake in hand or even arrive at all.

At the beginning of the story, Jack goes through a very complicated process to bake a cake. He has to gather all of the ingredients from many different sources and then do the actual cooking. I got exhausted just reading about the process. (Side note--Even despite my exhaustion, I was show more pretty excited to see a male character do all of the baking. Cool points!)

Despite having read a pretty good review or two, I almost didn't read Clever Jack though. I opened the books and discovered there were a lot of words to a page: Words. And words. And words.

WORDS.

I know that a person in her mid-twenties, who is a PhD candidate focusing on literature shouldn't look at a page in a picturebook like that and be freaked about by, what? 150-ish words? But I was.

Either way, I didn't know if had the attention span for this.

So, I skipped ahead to the ending and discovered that one of the morals was "Yayz stories!" so I decided to tough it out and behave adult-ish and read all the words.

I was glad I did. Clever Jack has an old-school, folklore-ish, Brothers Grimm-y feel, but without any of the blood, mutilation or death.

I didn't make the connection as I was reading either book, but now, thinking back, I'd totally do a book pair between Clever Jack and Lois Lowry's The Birthday Ball. Both involve bored princesses who invite peasants to birthday parties, but from very different perspectives.

Both are good fun!

Dinner Conversation:

"One summer morning long ago, a poor boy named Jack found an invitation slipped beneath his cottage door. It read:
His Majesty the King cordially invites all of the children of the realm to the Princess's Tenth Birthday Party tomorrow afternoon in the Castle Courtyard."

"The boy thought for a moment. "Then I will make her something," he declared. "I will make her a cake."
"From what?" asked his mother. "From the dust in the cupboard? From the dirt on the floor?"
"I have a better idea," said Jack."

"I'm taking this cake to the princess."
"Aw-caw-caw-caw-caw!" cackled the birds.
And as quickly as they had come, they were gone, taking with them the walnuts that spelled "Happy Birthday, Princess."

Tasty Rating: !!! show less