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Jaspers Beanstalk
Jasper hopes to grow a beanstalk, but becomes discouraged when the bean he plants doesn't grow after a week
32 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
About the author
Nick Butterworth
293 books57 followersNick Butterworth was born in London and grew up in a sweet shop in Essex. He worked for various major graphic design companies before becoming a full-time author and illustrator. Among his picture books are Thud!, QPootle5, Jingle Bells, Albert le Blanc, Tiger and The Whisperer, winner of the Nestlé Gold Award. But he is best known for his stories about Percy the Park Keeper, which have sold more than 9 million copies worldwide. Percy has also appeared in his own television series.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews
September 27, 2017
Jasper's Beanstalk is ideal for EYFS children in that it provides large illustrations with a small amount of text. The illustration style naturally aids comprehension, providing accessible visual cues to the emotions that the characters are feeling and the activities they are undertaking. It teaches some good concepts including perseverance, friendship (the robin is my favourite character), setting yourself challenges, using the physical environment around you, establishing expectations and developing patience and respect.
May 9, 2012
This book is about a cat who plants a bean which then turns into a beanstalk. Read and used this book in SEB with my reception class and it was well received. It was really great that Jasper does something on each day reinforcing the days of the week to my pupils. It was a simple book that I used really well in my cross curricular teaching. I used it to plant class seeds of our own and created a class display from it. The book was easy to read and to understand and it linked well with their previous knowledge of beanstalks from stories such as Jack and the Beanstalk. It was nice by the end of the book that there was a question mark as to what Jasper would find up the beanstalk. It was great for questioning with the children and using it as a stimulus for other lessons such as draw what you think might be up the beanstalk. Overall I felt this book was a really useful tool to teach the children about the growth and planting in a cross curricular way. The children can read the book due to its simplicity and those who are less able are at least likely to remember the sequence of events due to the link with the days of the week.
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October 9, 2018Teaching measurement
March 15, 2024
Great for preschool - lots of talking points
November 15, 2018
“Kinda boring.” -Wolfie 6yo
(I’d agree.)
(I’d agree.)
October 12, 2013
A lovely book for the EYFS. This story is about a cat called Jasper who wants to grow a beanstalk.
The story starts on a Monday where Jasper plants a bean and then every day of the week he tends to it to help it grow by watering it, digging it and spraying it. Unfortunately a week later, after waiting, waiting and waiting, Jasper gets very frustrated and impatient as nothing has grown. He decides he has had enough and digs the bean out and throws it away. However some time later the bean begins to grow and it grows into a huge beanstalk. Jasper is convinced there are giants at the top and goes in search of them.
Jasper’s Beanstalk is a great story to introduce the concept of planting and growing to children in the EYFS. I read it to my class and after we planted our own seeds.The book can be used in many cross curricular ways. It is also a great book for teaching children the days of the week and that pacience is the key to everything!
The story starts on a Monday where Jasper plants a bean and then every day of the week he tends to it to help it grow by watering it, digging it and spraying it. Unfortunately a week later, after waiting, waiting and waiting, Jasper gets very frustrated and impatient as nothing has grown. He decides he has had enough and digs the bean out and throws it away. However some time later the bean begins to grow and it grows into a huge beanstalk. Jasper is convinced there are giants at the top and goes in search of them.
Jasper’s Beanstalk is a great story to introduce the concept of planting and growing to children in the EYFS. I read it to my class and after we planted our own seeds.The book can be used in many cross curricular ways. It is also a great book for teaching children the days of the week and that pacience is the key to everything!
June 1, 2012
Here's a great book with a big message on patience.
The book uses big illustrations covering whole pages (and sometimes two pages) to deliver a story about a cat who planted a seed, did all the right things, became impatient to the point of digging up the seed to check if it was still there and when he had lost all hope, he was rewarded with a tall, tall beanstalk. The book ends with a reference to 'Jack and the Beanstalk' which not all the children had heard about. Regardless, the book's message seemed to come across well when it came to planting out own seed in a cup.
The book uses big illustrations covering whole pages (and sometimes two pages) to deliver a story about a cat who planted a seed, did all the right things, became impatient to the point of digging up the seed to check if it was still there and when he had lost all hope, he was rewarded with a tall, tall beanstalk. The book ends with a reference to 'Jack and the Beanstalk' which not all the children had heard about. Regardless, the book's message seemed to come across well when it came to planting out own seed in a cup.
December 5, 2021
A lovely book to read in an EYFS environment. Jasper's Beanstalk is about a cat that wants to grow a beanstalk using his beans. Jasper is quite curious and hasty in waiting for his beanstalk to grow therefore uses various gardening methods on different days of the week to fasten the process. The book includes understanding of the world for children as it refers to and enables children to retract prior knowledge or new knowledge on the days of the week, planting, verbs and tenses. It's a great book for a gardening theme in an EYFS setting. Likewise, planning a lesson on planting seeds in class can be very educational for children as they recognise the needs organisms such as plants have for example having the correct amount of water, sunlight and space. In addition to this children can also acknowledge the life cycle of living things. Furthermore, the book teaches about patience and that sometimes we have to wait a certain period of time in order to see a change or get something. Overall, the book is a great book for children to read and recollect prior knowledge. The text in the book is quite easy to read and understand due to the illustrations also, the weekdays which makes it easier to recall for young children.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 6, 2018
Jasper is a cat that has found a bean. He believes if he plants the bean and care for it , then it will grow into a beanstalk. Each day of the week Jasper has found a specific job to care for his bean. On Monday he found it. On Tuesday he planted and watered it. On Wednesday he dug,raked, hoed and sprayed the space where the bean was planted. Thursday he removed the slugs and snails. Friay he was fed up because after all of his hard work the bean had yet to grow. jasper dug the bean up and threw it away. After a long long time the bean began to grow on it's own. One day it grew into a tall leafy beanstalktowering over the house. Jasper was so ecited he expected to start seeing giants. I love this version of Jack and the Beanstalk. The book is for a young age group of children . It states it is for toddlers and early readers. This is a good book to talk about patience and the process of growing a plant.
March 31, 2026
one day Jasper found a magic bean. he put the bean under the mud and grow it. on Tuesday, he planted the seed. on Wednesday, he watered it. on Thursday, he Dug and raked. on Friday, he pick up the snails and slugs. on Saturday he mowed it. on Sunday, he waited and waited. on Monday he dug it and he throwed it away. but a long long long time later, the beanstalk really grow up to the sky
November 12, 2017
Lovely sequencing weekdays book
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December 1, 2020My favorite day is Friday. He picked up all the slugs and snails.
February 10, 2021
Really lovely story about the days of the week.
September 2, 2022
4 stars- English Ebook
Sweet picturebook.
Sweet picturebook.
June 26, 2024
A great short book to introduce the names of the days of the week, and the idea of having to wait for plants to grow! A bit of intertextuality (a nod to Jack & the Beanstalk) thrown in too.
July 30, 2014
Jasper, a cat, finds a bean on Monday and as the week passes, the process of how to grow the bean is explained. Eventually the bean grows and at the end of the book, Jasper begins to search for giants as he was reading the story of Jack and the Beanstalk.
I really enjoyed reading this book and rate it 5* because it teaches children many concepts and although it is a fiction book, it does provide the reader and listener with information of how to grow a bean. It also teaches children the days of the week as well as briefly mentioning two mini-beasts which shows that this book can be read in a variety of topics. I also enjoyed reading this book because it ended with Jasper looking for giants on the beanstalk which could lead to the story of Jack and the Beanstalk then being read to the children.
From experience of observing this story being read to children in a school Nursery, I believe this is an appropriate age for this to be read to them. This is because of the follow-up activities that could be achieved with this and the excitement this brings. I have observed, supported and carried out an activity in which children plant their own bean in a plant pot with soil as well as in a clear plastic bag with cotton wool. The children then if they could wrote their names on this and watched them grow. The beans in the cotton wool were hung up outside and some were even used for a display and the beans in the plant pots stayed outside. The children kept on wanting to water the beans in the plant pot and were very excited about having the opportunity to do this. At the end of the academic year, they got to take them home which again they were excited about.
I really enjoyed reading this book and rate it 5* because it teaches children many concepts and although it is a fiction book, it does provide the reader and listener with information of how to grow a bean. It also teaches children the days of the week as well as briefly mentioning two mini-beasts which shows that this book can be read in a variety of topics. I also enjoyed reading this book because it ended with Jasper looking for giants on the beanstalk which could lead to the story of Jack and the Beanstalk then being read to the children.
From experience of observing this story being read to children in a school Nursery, I believe this is an appropriate age for this to be read to them. This is because of the follow-up activities that could be achieved with this and the excitement this brings. I have observed, supported and carried out an activity in which children plant their own bean in a plant pot with soil as well as in a clear plastic bag with cotton wool. The children then if they could wrote their names on this and watched them grow. The beans in the cotton wool were hung up outside and some were even used for a display and the beans in the plant pots stayed outside. The children kept on wanting to water the beans in the plant pot and were very excited about having the opportunity to do this. At the end of the academic year, they got to take them home which again they were excited about.
May 5, 2014
Jasper's Beanstalk
Jasper wants to plant his own bean; the story goes through the different days of the week, showing what happens to Jasper's bean each day. He gets sad because his bean won’t grow. But then all of a sudden it grows into a large giant beanstalk and he gets excited he is sure there is a giant at the top!
I like this story, as it is a nice way to introduce to the children the topic of changes and the life cycle of a bean. It allows the children to relate to what Jasper is doing and then carrying out the task themselves. The imagery is clear and simple, as well as the text, allowing for the children to start to learn the days of the week.
The appropriate age-range would be 4-6 years.
It could be used for:
Language and Literacy - recall and sequence the story with the children. You could provide the children with story props and then encourage them to act out the story individually or with others.
It is also a nice way to get the children talking about the book and extend their thinking by asking questions such as: What happens to the beanstalk? Does Jasper climb up it? If so, where does he go?
Mathematics - Sorting with different beans, one-to-one correspondence
Art - Get the children to paint their favourite part in the story, let the children paint or draw flowers or plants from close observation of the items.
Jasper wants to plant his own bean; the story goes through the different days of the week, showing what happens to Jasper's bean each day. He gets sad because his bean won’t grow. But then all of a sudden it grows into a large giant beanstalk and he gets excited he is sure there is a giant at the top!
I like this story, as it is a nice way to introduce to the children the topic of changes and the life cycle of a bean. It allows the children to relate to what Jasper is doing and then carrying out the task themselves. The imagery is clear and simple, as well as the text, allowing for the children to start to learn the days of the week.
The appropriate age-range would be 4-6 years.
It could be used for:
Language and Literacy - recall and sequence the story with the children. You could provide the children with story props and then encourage them to act out the story individually or with others.
It is also a nice way to get the children talking about the book and extend their thinking by asking questions such as: What happens to the beanstalk? Does Jasper climb up it? If so, where does he go?
Mathematics - Sorting with different beans, one-to-one correspondence
Art - Get the children to paint their favourite part in the story, let the children paint or draw flowers or plants from close observation of the items.
January 20, 2015
Jasper's beanstalk probably has around 100 words in it, but manages to cover lots with them - days of the week, growth cycle of a plant, gardening vocabulary and techniques (some incorrectly used!) and the virtue of patience!
The illustrations are charming and simple, but with enough going on to draw interest and support questioning of the book.
The story is about Jasper the cat, who finds a bean on Monday, plants it on Tuesday and continues 'looking after it' until the following Monday when he digs it up believing it will never grow. of course the bean does grow (after a long, long, long time) showing that if Jasper had just been more patient he would have grown the beanstalk himself.
The sequential use of the days of the week will be useful in EYFS settings to reinforce the days of the week, and many of the pages will allow for discussion around gardening and associated vocabulary. One of the most useful areas of the story though is the message about patience, Jasper gives up very quickly and a discussion about this could prove interesting with EYFS children.
Finally, perhaps a useful story to read if growing plants with your class to help promote continued interest?
The illustrations are charming and simple, but with enough going on to draw interest and support questioning of the book.
The story is about Jasper the cat, who finds a bean on Monday, plants it on Tuesday and continues 'looking after it' until the following Monday when he digs it up believing it will never grow. of course the bean does grow (after a long, long, long time) showing that if Jasper had just been more patient he would have grown the beanstalk himself.
The sequential use of the days of the week will be useful in EYFS settings to reinforce the days of the week, and many of the pages will allow for discussion around gardening and associated vocabulary. One of the most useful areas of the story though is the message about patience, Jasper gives up very quickly and a discussion about this could prove interesting with EYFS children.
Finally, perhaps a useful story to read if growing plants with your class to help promote continued interest?
April 17, 2013
This is a wonderful story for children in the EYFS. The story goes like this, on Monday Jasper plants a bean and every day of the week he tends to it to help it grow. A week later, after waiting, waiting and waiting, Jasper gets very frustrated and impatient as nothing has grown. He decides to pull the bean out and throws it away. A long, long, long time later, the bean grows into a lovely beanstalk. Jasper is glad and begins to look for giants.
Jasper’s Beanstalk is a great story to introduce the concept of planting and growing to children in the EYFS. I enjoyed reading this short and simple story to a reception class on the second placement. I read the book as a way of introducing the topic of planting and growing to the class, in the lesson the children went on to growing their own seeds, just like Jasper.
The book can be used in many cross curricular ways. It illustrates planting, watering, hoeing and getting rid of slugs and snails in a beautiful and simple way. It is also a great book for teaching children the days of the week, as well as patience.
Jasper’s Beanstalk is a great story to introduce the concept of planting and growing to children in the EYFS. I enjoyed reading this short and simple story to a reception class on the second placement. I read the book as a way of introducing the topic of planting and growing to the class, in the lesson the children went on to growing their own seeds, just like Jasper.
The book can be used in many cross curricular ways. It illustrates planting, watering, hoeing and getting rid of slugs and snails in a beautiful and simple way. It is also a great book for teaching children the days of the week, as well as patience.
May 2, 2014
The children in my nursery class really enjoyed me reading this book to them. It’s a great way to scaffold children’s knowledge from their previous learning about Jack and the beanstalk. The story is a great way to introduce planting and growing things. You can also carry out activities such as the children planting their own plants/vegetables. It talks about the cycle and how things grow step by step. This can also be an indirect way of introducing stages (ICT Programming). Children can explore outside playing with water (watering cans), soil, beans, seeds etc. Also the concept of measuring and the mathematical language can be taught through such as the bean stalk is growing bigger, taller and they can measure it. For creative activities they can create their own seed packets. They can further extend their knowledge and ask “what might be up at the top of the bean stalk”. It also teaches children that they must wait and be patient for things to grow (concept of time).
February 17, 2021
Jaspers Beanstalk is not to be confused by its similar book title! This book is great if children are learning the days of the week. On Monday Jasper plants a seed and the story progresses as the days go past. Will the bean grow? The book is an excellent example for building simple sentences and asking the children to write out what happens each day.
This book was the topic of the week in reception. We planted some cress, learnt about seeds and growing vegetables in the garden. To link to literacy each child created a flip book about the days of the week following Jaspers journey from planting the seed and finishing with the seed growing.
A tray was placed outside with a variety of seeds for the children to touch and experiment with the different textures and sizes. This was also an activity for counting practice and grouping using a tens frame template to place a seed in each space.
This book was the topic of the week in reception. We planted some cress, learnt about seeds and growing vegetables in the garden. To link to literacy each child created a flip book about the days of the week following Jaspers journey from planting the seed and finishing with the seed growing.
A tray was placed outside with a variety of seeds for the children to touch and experiment with the different textures and sizes. This was also an activity for counting practice and grouping using a tens frame template to place a seed in each space.
April 29, 2013
Jasper's Beanstalk introduces readers to the character of a cat named Jasper who is determined to grow a beanstalk. He plants a bean and carefully tends to it each day, expecting the beanstalk to grow tall within a week. Much to his dismay the beanstalk does not grow. Finally, he gets fed up of waiting for it to grow and digs up the bean and throws it away. You can probably imagine what happens next!
Having used the story with a year two class as a follow on from Jack and the Beanstalk, Jasper’s Beanstalk was a good text to provide children with a starting point for extended writing. The story ends in Jasper climbing the beanstalk and this can open up many possibilities for children to imagine what he finds at the top of the beanstalk and to get their imaginations flowing!
Having used the story with a year two class as a follow on from Jack and the Beanstalk, Jasper’s Beanstalk was a good text to provide children with a starting point for extended writing. The story ends in Jasper climbing the beanstalk and this can open up many possibilities for children to imagine what he finds at the top of the beanstalk and to get their imaginations flowing!
April 24, 2014
This book is very simple but yet extremely effective to introduce the plant cycle to children. For this reason, I believe that it is more for KS1 children.
It's about a cat called Jasper who plants a bean in the attempt to grow a beanstalk. He give it all the things it needs to grow but nothing happens. Eventually, the beanstalk grows and grows and he is so amazed. It ends with Jasper trying to climb it to find a giant.
I like this story because not only does it introduce the cycle of a plant but also can be used as an alternative fairy tale as it is quite similar to the giant beanstalk story,
It's about a cat called Jasper who plants a bean in the attempt to grow a beanstalk. He give it all the things it needs to grow but nothing happens. Eventually, the beanstalk grows and grows and he is so amazed. It ends with Jasper trying to climb it to find a giant.
I like this story because not only does it introduce the cycle of a plant but also can be used as an alternative fairy tale as it is quite similar to the giant beanstalk story,
March 17, 2015
This is a very nice, simple book about a cat who plants a bean and watches it grow. We read this in a nursery class when introducing the topic of growing as it uses some nice vocabulary linked to growing and planting seeds etc. It helped link in to the plants in the garden the children helped grow and as we had previously covered Jack and the beanstalk the children were able to link previous knowledge. It also has a nice link with the days of the week as Jasper's plants the seed on a Monday, Tuesday he etc etc helping children to sequence events and reinforce their knowledge/recalling of the days of the week. Lovely book to use.
October 17, 2013
Reception age. Really nicely illustrated and in large format, this book is a variant on the theme of the classic Jack and the Beanstalk. The cover shows Jasper the cat with his bundle of garden tools, and inside the book is in rhyme format starting with ‘on Monday Jasper found a bean.’ It continues through days of the week, and Jasper ends up digging up the bean and throwing it away with impatience. A ‘long long time later’ the beanstalk grew. Now Jasper ‘is looking for giants.’ It shows that something beautiful can grow if you plant a seed, with the benefit of having a little patience.
January 20, 2012
Jasper thinks that the bean will never grow into a beanstalk, but a long time later he is surprised…
The book has clear illustrations which will allow readers to use picture cues to help them read the text.
The book has simple, clear and extra large text.
The story touches on the topic of the cycles of nature and how things grow, with a gentle moral of how everything comes to those who wait.
Can be used for Foundation and key stage 1, ages 3 – 6
The book has clear illustrations which will allow readers to use picture cues to help them read the text.
The book has simple, clear and extra large text.
The story touches on the topic of the cycles of nature and how things grow, with a gentle moral of how everything comes to those who wait.
Can be used for Foundation and key stage 1, ages 3 – 6
June 8, 2012
By Nick Butterworth
Jasper is a loveable cat and you really feel for him when he struggles with his beanstalk. The story goes through the week as Jasper tries to grow a beanstalk. I would say it’s good for EYFS. The story reinforces the days of the week which is also great for sequencing events, questioning and predicting the events of the story. Attractive endearing illustrations by Mick Inkpen. An idea; get the children to plant their own seeds and watch them grow, sounds perfect.
Jasper is a loveable cat and you really feel for him when he struggles with his beanstalk. The story goes through the week as Jasper tries to grow a beanstalk. I would say it’s good for EYFS. The story reinforces the days of the week which is also great for sequencing events, questioning and predicting the events of the story. Attractive endearing illustrations by Mick Inkpen. An idea; get the children to plant their own seeds and watch them grow, sounds perfect.
November 12, 2012
Good book for toddler and preschool storytimes! The kids like to predict what's going to happen and really like watching as the cat goes--even if it has very simple text. I like to allude to Jack and the Beanstalk, too.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews