This Is the Glade Where Jack Lives

December 1, 2020
Take a deep breath, practice your pronunciation, and cruise through cumulative chaos in the glade. Instead of building a house, this Jack lives in a glade, and what a tumultuous glade it is. Fairies bring a cake to a gnome that lives in the tree in the glade, but, in cascading action, an imp steals the cake, a mermaid trips the imp, a faun jostles the mermaid, a troll startles the faun, and goblins rush the troll. Just when it seems the long cumulative verse can't possibly get any longer and the chaos reaches its peak, a dragon enters the scene. Grumpy from a bad day and an interrupted nap, she swoops through the glade with fire and smoke, startling all the woodland creatures and unwinding all the action. The creatures are stunned until Jack, the unicorn hero, at last takes center stage. He is "all sparkly and bright," and his "magical horn shimmers / both day and night." With a kiss to the dragon, "who swoons with delight," Jack starts a new cascade of hugs and kisses that restores neighborly love and results in a happy gathering to share the cake. Richly colored and really goofy cartoons highlight the fast action and capture the changing emotions of the woodland creatures as the chain reaction of interactions proceeds. Periodic end rhyme adds to the fun and anchors the text as an aid to reading. (This book was reviewed digitally with 9-by-18-inch double-page spreads reviewed at 40.8% of actual size.) A traditional story form with several twists, ideal for reading aloud and acting out. (Picture book. 4-8)

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