8 July 2010 CLEVER JACK TAKES THE CAKE by Candace Fleming and G. Brian Karas, ill., Schwartz & Wade, August 2010, 40p., ISBN: 978-0-375-84979-4

"Down the long narrow hall he was led

Into her rooms with her tapestries red

And she never once took the crown from her head

She asked him there to sit down.

He said, 'I see you now, and you are so very young

But I've seen more battles lost than I have battles won

And I've got this intuition, says it's all for your fun

And now will you tell me why?'"

-- Suzanne Vega, "The Queen and the Soldier"

I first learned about storytelling from my father's father.  My grandfather Rex Partington would tell stories about family members, friends, and business associates, and I would learn family history while being entertained.  He'd tell the story about the year that they planted 96 tomato plants.  He'd tell about family dogs that were before my time. 

One that forever impressed me was the story of how he realized late one cold, rainy evening that he was out of cigarettes, and he prepared to go out into the weather and walk to the store to purchase some more.  (This was before I was born, when they were living in Queens, and it took place during a twenty-five year stretch when he did not own an automobile.)  As he would tell the story, he had just stepped out of the house when he came to the realization that he was a slave to that habit.  Instead of continuing on to the store, he made a U-turn, went back in the house, and never smoked again.

As I grew up, I began building a repertoire of my own stories.  I made note of which ones made my listeners laugh, and I learned about pausing at the right places and how to deliver a great punchline.

Fortunately, I have lived a relatively charmed life: I have repeatedly experienced disaster narrowly averted without lasting consequence, and so a lot of my stories are exciting but rarely are they tragic.  Many of them somehow relate to my thirty-one years of goat keeping.  Those tinged with a bit of sadness have to do with people who brightened my life but who are now gone. 

I love how remembering a story leads to other memories and other stories.

"There was Ragshag Bill from Buffalo, I never will forget

He would roar all day and he'd roar all night, and I guess he's roaring yet

One day he fell in a prospect hole, in a roaring bad design

And in that hole he roared out his soul in the days of '49

In the days of old, in the days of gold

How oft'times I repine, for the days of old

When we dug up the gold, in the days of '49

-- collected by Allen Lomax and sung by Bob Dylan

CLEVER JACK TAKES THE CAKE is a very fun story about the power of storytelling.

"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  the children of the Realm to the Princess's Tenth Birthday Party tomorrow afternoon in the Castle Courtyard."

"'A party!' exclaimed Jack.  'For the princess!'

"His mother sighed.  'What a shame you can't go.'

"'Why not?' asked Jack.

"'Because we've nothing fine enough to give her,' his mother replied.  'And no money to buy a gift.'"

But Jack is indeed clever and he is not going to be deterred from attending that party.  He decides that he will make the princess a cake.  And though he doesn't have what he needs to implement the plan, he proceeds to barter with neighbors and the neighborhood livestock in order to secure the necessary ingredients.

"Then he set to work churning, chopping, blending, and baking."

Jack succeeds in baking one heck of a cake with candles, walnut lettering, and an enormous strawberry on top. 

But the next morning, when he sets off for the castle, he falls victim to one difficulty after another.  When he stops to pick a bouquet for the princess, a flock of blackbirds make off with the bits of walnut that had spelled "Happy Birthday, Princess."  Then he encounters a wild-haired troll who ends up with one layer of the cake in exchange for Jack's being able to cross the bridge.  And so it goes that, as the journey continues, bit by bit the cake disappears.  By the time Jack finally arrives at the castle, he is left only with the enormous strawberry which is promptly consumed by a castle guard. 

Empty-handedly, Jack must approach the princess.  But it turns out that the princess is totally bored by the same old stuff (magnificent treasures) that the other guests have brought her.  In response to Jack's proceeding to recount by way of explanation the circumstances by which he has arrived without a gift, 

"The princess laughed and clapped her hands in delight.

"'A story!' she exclaimed.  'And an adventure story at that!'  What a fine gift.'"

Thus, Jack and the princess become friends, and I am betting that, in response to this great picturebook tale about the pleasure to be found in story, you will be clapping your hands, too.  I sure was.

Richie Partington, MLIS
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FTC NOTICE: Richie receives free books from lots of publishers who hope he will Pick their books.  You can figure that any review was written after reading and dog-earring a free copy received.  Richie retains these review copies for his rereading pleasure and for use in his booktalks at schools and libraries.