Spring-Heeled Jack

by Philip Pullman, D Mostyn (Illustrator)

Spring-Heeled The name evoked awe from both criminals and upstanding citizens alike. Some thought he was the devil, but he was actually the original superhero—leaping over the buildings of Victorian England with the help of springs in the heels of his shoes.

The story begins as three young innocents escape their orphanage one dark and stormy night. As they make their way through the treacherous streets of London danger lurks, for hiding in the shadows is Mack the
Knife, the most villainous of villains. Enter
Spring-Heeled Jack, the springiest of heroes. But will Jack’s powers be enough to save
the orphans?

Originally published in paperback, Spring-Heeled Jack is back—now as a hardcover with eye-catching new jacket art.

Genres: Fantasy, Childrens, Fiction, Adventure, Historical Fiction, Graphic Novels, Young Adult

112 pages, Hardcover

First published April 25, 1991

About the author

Sir Philip Nicholas Outram Pullman is an English writer. His books include the fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials and The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ, a fictionalised biography of Jesus. In 2008, The Times named Pullman one of the "50 greatest British writers since 1945". In a 2004 BBC poll, he was named the eleventh most influential person in British culture. He was knighted in the 2019 New Year Honours for services to literature.
Northern Lights, the first volume in His Dark Materials, won the 1995 Carnegie Medal of the Library Association as the year's outstanding English-language children's book. For the Carnegie's 70th anniversary, it was named in the top ten by a panel tasked with compiling a shortlist for a public vote for an all-time favourite. It won that public vote and was named all-time "Carnegie of Carnegies" in June 2007. It was filmed under the book's US title, The Golden Compass. In 2003, His Dark Materials trilogy ranked third in the BBC's The Big Read, a poll of 200 top novels voted by the British public.

Reviews

[Lisa of Troy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightfully hilarious, enchanting, and page-turning!

Spring-Heeled Jack is a highly engaging story with several laugh-out-loud moments. It blends traditional prose with comics. The audiobook is magical with a full cast and sound effects.

The dialogue is perfect, and each of the characters has such a rich personality.

If you think, “Yeah. Yeah. You’re just the #1 Philip Pullman fan,” you would be right about that.

During dinner, I told my favorite middle grade reader that I had read a book that he might like although it is probably a bit beneath his reading level. I played the first chapter and shut it off to begin again another day. His little hand shot out. “No! I need the book and the audio!”

Half an hour later, “Time for bed!”

“I already took a shower for the night!"

Before I can get in a word, he flips the audiobook back on for another five minutes. That is how addictive Philip Pullman is.

When my favorite reader asked me how many stars I was rating this, I said, “One star. It’s horrible,” and tried to suppress my smile.

He turned on my clip-on reading lamp and turned it towards me. “This is an interrogation light! How many stars are you giving it?”

“How many stars do you think it should be?”

“Twenty trillion! I want to learn how to make this audiobook with all of the sound effects!”

If you want to spend a bit of time with a delightful story this holiday season, treat yourself to this book!

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[Capn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty sure the current GR synopsis is incorrect! XD Here's what the backcover says:

Deep in the murkiest back streets of old London town, three children are escaping from an orphanage. But lurking in the fog, watching Rose, Lily and Ned, is a king among villians - Mack the Knife!
A dreadful fate looks certain until, from out of nowhere, a figure with glowing, red eyes appears. He leaps through the air like a firework - it's Spring-Heeled Jack, scourge of evil-doers!
A fantastic adventure told in words and cartoons by Carnegie-medal winning writer Philip Pullman, author of The Firework-Maker's Daughter, winner of the Smarties Prize Gold Award, and Clockwork, winner of the Smarties Prize Silver Award.

Oh dear. I see the reason for the comparatively low rating here. I know Pullman for The Northern Lights Trilogy, and quite enjoyed the for-younger-audiences 'The Firework-Maker's Daughter', which had a light and comical story. Was really excited to read this - the last I heard about Spring-Heeled Jack was whenever the last time I had played the Monster-in-my-Pocket SNES game, which admittedly would be decades ago. I was hoping for a dark Victorian tale that wasn't set in Whitechapel with a certain other notorious Jack.

Alas, this is a COMIC BOOK. No, not a "graphic novel", but a silly, goofy, all-for-fun comic. And I'm decidedly not a fan of the genre.

It's a dark knight superhero strip set in Victorian London and peppered with Dickensian villains and the arch-villian, Mack the Knife. It's punny, and each chapter opens with a line from another story (referenced - everything from Dumas to Hergé to Russell Hoban). The characters are not, thankfully, the stereotypical Barbie-esque bombshells of impossible proportions and angular bosums alongside muscle-bound, square jawed Herculean adonis-types, but decidedly more doughy and.. comic (more akin to Popeye or TinTin, really).

I didn't enjoy the plot. And there was precious little backstory or allusion to it for Spring-Heeled Jack, which is what I was there for. I can't even remember if he leapt a tall building... they did have to run all over an upturned load of brussels sprouts in order to meet a departing steamer, though.

Swing and a miss for me. But it's a very quick read if you're in the midst of a Middle Grade Madness Reading Challenge, as I am!

[itchy · Rating 5 out of 5]

brief synopsis:
Spring-Heeled Jack helps three orphans reunite with their father.

setting:
East End, London
Blackfriars, London
Docks, London

named personalities:
Rose Summers - an orphan who broke out of the Alderman-Cawn Plaster Memorial Orphanage
Lily Summers - another orphan who broke out of the Alderman-Cawn Plaster Memorial Orphanage; Rose's sister
Edward Montgomery 'Ned' Summers - still another orphan who broke out of the Alderman-Cawn Plaster Memorial Orphanage; Rose and Lily's brother
Spangle - a poor little dog
Mack the Knife - the most evil villain in London; the King of Crime
Slippery Sam - a recent murder victim of Mack the Knife
Spring-Heeled Jack aka Mephistopheles - catcher of villains, avenger of wrongs
Batman - the caped crusader
Albert Killjoy - Alderman-Cawn Plaster Memorial Orphanage superintendent; Happy Smiles Sunshine Villa superintendent
Gasket - superintendent's assistant
Pincher - the Hangman's Wharf Police Station sergeant
Andrew Webster - captain of the Indomitable
Jim Bowling - an Able Seaman
Edward Montgomery Summers - a businessman; the Summer orphans father
Quinlan - one of Jack the Knife's gangsters
Peregrine - ditto
Auberon - ditto
Filthy - ditto
Charlie - Filthy's hanged uncle
Lucia - a saint
Antonio Rolipolio - an organ grinder
Miranda - Antonio's monkey
Simon - a pieman
Polly Pickles - Jim's sweetheart; the Rose and Crown barmaid
Casey Wilkins - a Saveloy Hotel pastry cook who was formerly a ship's carpenter
Alfonso - King of Brazil
Tweedle - a police constable
William - a fictional sailor in the play Black Ey'd Susan
Hawkshaw - from the Orphanage Inspectorate

Quite humorous.
I never thought SHJ would be a do-gooder, though.
Guess I heard different.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review: https://hiplibrariansbookblog.com/200...

[Stefan Garland · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

Mnogo mi je drago što sam konačno pronašao i kupio ovu Pulmanovu knjigu, i to sasvim slučajno.

Sama priča nije bog zna kako originalna ili neponovljiva, ali je spoj stripa i romana veoma dobar i zabavan. Sam Đek Đipalo se ne pojavljuje onoliko koliko bi trebalo, s obzirom na to da je naslovni junak, i neke scene su se završile pre nego što su i počele, ali mi je knjiga jako prijala, pogotovo što sam došao kući veoma umoran i nisam imao koncentracije za čitanje nečeg 'ozbiljnijeg'.

[Dragana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sama radnja u ovoj knjizi zaista nije nista posebno. Ono sto je izuzetno zanimljivo je nacin pripovedanja. Fenomenalan spoj romana i stripa. Od svih njegovih knjiga za decu, ova mi se najvise dopala!

[Endah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tentu saja pertimbangan pertama saya membaca buku ini karena pengarangnya, Philip Pullman. Saya “jatuh cinta” pada penulis dongeng asal Inggris ini. Tiga bukunya telah saya baca: Putri Pembuat Kembang Api, Dulu Aku Tikus, dan Si Pembuat Jam. Jack si Pelompat ini menjadi buku keempatnya yang saya baca. Semuanya tipis, hanya berkisar di 100-an halaman saja.

Yang menarik dari keempat buku Pullman itu selain ceritanya yang sederhana sekaligus fantastis adalah juga gambar-gambar ilustrasi yang tertera di setiap halamannya. Gambar-gambar tersebut menjadi bagian yang kocak dari dongengnya yang memukau. Ilustrasi itu berupa gambar hitam putih dan seperti komik memuat juga dialog tokoh-tokohnya.

Jack si Pelompat adalah seorang pahlawan pembela kebenaran dan pembasmi kejahatan yang hidup pada zaman Victoria, zaman sebelum ada Superman dan Batman. Menurut situs Wikipedia, si Jack yang suka melompat ini merupakan salah satu tokoh cerita rakyat Inggris yang sangat terkenal. Pertama kali namanya muncul pada 1837. Rupanya si Jack ini bukan sekadar tokoh dongeng rekaan Pullman. Ia telah lama hidup dalam legenda rakyat Inggris.

Dalam setiap aksinya, Jack memakai kostum seperti setan dan dia melompati atap-atap rumah dengan bantuan per yang dipasang di tumit sepatunya. Ia dikisahkan mampu melompat sangat tinggi.

Jika ada jagoan tentu harus ada penjahat dan harus ada korban yang diselamatkan. Maka, cerita pun bergulir dari sebuah panti asuhan di London. Panti Asuhan Alderman Cawn-Plaster Memorial namanya. Di panti asuhan itu tinggallah tiga bocah bersaudara, Rose, Lily, dan Ned Summers. Mereka menjadi yatim piatu sejak kepergian ayah mereka ke Australia dan ibu mereka meninggal tak lama setelah itu.

Panti asuhan itu dikelola oleh dua orang dewasa yang jahat, Mr Killjoy dan Miss Gasket. Tempat tersebut mungkin tempat paling buruk di dunia di mana selimut, penjaga, dan rasa buburnya sama dingin dan tidak enaknya.

Lantaran tidak tahan lagi, ketiga kakak beradik tersebut pada suatu malam memutuskan minggat dari tempat yang menyeramkan itu. Mereka berniat kabur ke pelabuhan untuk kemudian menumpang kapal yang akan membawa mereka ke Amerika. Oh, tentu saja upaya kabur mereka tidaklah mulus. Mereka harus berhadap-hadapan dulu dengan berbagai kendala, termasuk di antaranya ancaman dari Mack si Pelempar Pisau.

Nah, nah, sudah bisa diduga di sinilah sang jagoan, Jack si Pelompat berperan membela ketiga bersaudara itu. Ia membantu mereka meloloskan diri dari kekejaman Miss Gasket dan temannya, Mr Killjoy. Berhasilkah? Sudah pastilah….:)

Spoiler? Tidak juga, karena umumnya cerita anak-anak adalah tentang kebenaran melawan kebatilan. Pesan moralnya hampir selalu bisa dipastikan: berbuat baiklah selalu agar dirimu selamat. Hitam putih.

Yang keren lagi di samping ilustrasinya adalah juga judul-judul setiap babnya. Pullman mengutip kalimat dari buku-buku yang dibacanya. Misalnya, Bab Satu : “Malam yang gelap dan berangin….” Alexander Dumas, Three Musketeers. Atau Bab Tujuh: “Aku tak berani berhenti untuk beristirahat sejenak…” Tove Johnson, The Expolit of Moominpapa. Yang paling kocak adalah di bab sebelas, ketika Pullman mengutip kata-katanya sendiri: “Sementara itu di panti asuhan…” Philip Pullman, Spring-Heeled Jack.

Pullman sangat mengerti bagaimana memanjakan anak-anak selaku pembaca utamanya. Ia menggunakan bahasa yang mudah dicerna serta plot yang lurus. Tokoh jagoan Jack si Pelompat dihadirkan tidak sebagai superhero yang sakti mandraguna. Ia hanya seorang lelaki baik hati yang suka menolong. Ia tidak bisa terbang bagai Superman atau memiliki mobil keren yang canggih seperti Batman. Ia hanya mengandalkan keberanian dan sepasang per di kedua tumit sepatunya untuk melompat dari atap ke atap. Namun demikian, setiap bandit yang berhadapan dengannya pasti akan berakhir mengenaskan.

Selain Jack, ada lagi tokoh protagonis yang menolong Rose dan adik-adiknya. Mereka berasal dari orang-orang biasa. Jim si kelasi serta kekasihnya, Polly, pelayan di hotel Saveloy. Kedua sejoli ini dengan ringan hati memberikan bantuan untuk menyelamatkan anak-anak malang itu. Satu lagi pesan moral: tak perlu jadi superhero dulu untuk menlong orang lain. Yang dibutuhkan hanya dua hal: keberanian dan kebaikan hati.

Bukan begitu, adik-adik?***

[Mia Prasetya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pelajaran pertama yang didapat dari buku Pullman kali ini : "..... Jadilah pengacara. Sama aja dengan mencuri, hanya lebih terhormat. Dan tak ada resiko ditangkap polisi." Mudah2an ga ada pengacara di GRI hihihi, ketawa ngakak pas baca kalimat ini (hal 34)

Buku anak ringan, singkat yang kelar dalam waktu cepat. Kali ini Philip Pullman menawarkan sesuatu yang lain, setelah terkaget-kaget dengan endingnya I was a rat, saya cukup disenangkan dengan cerita yang disertai dengan ilustrasi2 menarik. Apalagi terkadang ada celetukan tokoh ulat dan monyet yang ga penting di ilustrasi tersebut. Ditambah lagi tiap bab ada kutipan dari buku-buku, mirip dengan Inkheart.

Oia, ada beberapa percakapan konyol dan terjemahan menu restoran yang kocak. I love this book. Kalau cerita sih biasa ya? Gimana-gimana yang baik bakal menang melawan yang jahat. Malah si Jack sang pelompat ga banyak diceritakan di sini.

[Kristine Schmidt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious, tongue and cheek writing by Pullman. This isn’t a complex and twisty tale ala His Dark Materials. I’m a huge Terry Pratchett fan, and this is more reminiscent of his humor, British quips, puns and references that catch your humor after you thought about it for a minute. The plot itself reads like an O’ Henry short story, twist at the end and a happy ending you probably saw coming. It’s a great vehicle to teach kids that sometimes the plot isn’t the point, the humor is.

Also, LOVED David Mostyn’s illustrations. Reminded me of the darker newspaper comics from when I was a kid, and he really keeps Jack a mystery with dark panels and capes and such.

[Mamet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bacaan anak-anak yg ringan ^^

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

From 1837 onwards reports began circulating in London of a terrifying devilish figure who terrorised women: sporting horns he breathed fire and leapt superhuman heights and distances. As is the way with urban legends there were several sightings with conflicting descriptions, even sensationalised accounts in penny dreadfuls, but nobody ever convincingly explained the phenomenon.

In due course Philip Pullman took this enigmatic figure and turned Spring-heeled Jack from a legendary molester to a cartoon crimefighter:

In Victorian times, before Superman and Batman had been heard of, there was another hero who used to go around rescuing people and catching criminals.

With the aid of a sidekick, cartoonist extraordinaire David Mostyn, Pullman tells the story of how Jack comes to the aid of a trio of orphans escaping the nefarious attentions of the orphanage superintendent, his assistant, and Mack the Knife and his gang.

With his experience as an English teacher Pullman specialised in writing school plays and telling entertaining tales based on a variety of traditions and influences, for example Count Karlstein and Clockwork , both heavily indebted to Central European folklore and legends. While harking back to Victorian popular culture in Spring-heeled Jack he also drew on his own childhood imbibing comics, whether about American superheroes or everyday folk in venerable British periodicals, like the Beano or the Dandy, featuring mischievous schoolkids and gauche adults as the butt of jokes.

In choosing David Mostyn as his collaborator Pullman has blended both comic book traditions: Jack as superhero and orphans Rose, Lily and Ned in a world of caricatured authority figures, hapless bystanders, dastardly villains and plucky youngsters. The pages are half conventional text and half graphic novel, speech balloons issuing out of characters' mouths, a dog acting the part of Tintin's Snowy, an incidental cat who (like a feline Greek chorus) offers commentary through expressive looks, and even a bug that progresses across the bottom of successive pages in flick book fashion.

It's all designed to tingle the spines and tickle the funny bones of primary school children -- and even a few older, more sophisticated readers too. Do the children ultimately find safety and true solace in a happy ending? Does true love win out? Will a petty criminal find peace with his conscience? Do the truly wicked adults get their just deserts? I'm afraid you'd have to get your own copy to find out.

[Mariana Ferreira · Rating 2 out of 5]

Such a disappointment ): Miles and miles away from His Dark Materials, this reads more like a school book than an actual pleasure-reading book for children. A very basic story with a couple of good jokes, but it’s basically just ok.

[Oni · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, it's weird story..

[Silvia · Rating 4 out of 5]

L'inondazione dei cavoletti di Bruxelles è stata la ciliegina sulla torta.

[Althea Ann · Rating 1 out of 5]

Yeah, one star. I feel a little bad, because this book did not actively anger me. However, I didn't like anything about it.

My book club selected this, because: Golden Compass! Sally Lockhart! Yeah!
We haven't had our meeting yet, so I don't know what everyone else thought of it, but I was quite disappointed.

The plot is very slight, and hackneyed in a Dickens-lite kinda way. Three siblings must escape from a horrible orphanage, and find themselves in need of help from a mysterious benefactor.

Don't get me wrong, cliche or not, I like orphan stories! But these orphans just seemed wussy and kind of annoying (but only kind-of. They didn't have enough personality to be particularly annoying). The story didn't have any original twists to set it apart. Even for a middle-grades book, it seemed rather shallow.

The 'humorous' bits seemed aimed at older readers than the book's target audience, but weren't particularly funny.

I did not find the illustrations aesthetically appealing. (All the people, as drawn, resemble unattractive, doughy peanuts.)

And, worst of all, Spring-Heeled Jack - a quite fascinating Victorian urban legend - here is not portrayed as an enigmatic villain, but seems more like just some random adult do-gooder who fortuitously shows up to save some kids who weren't spunky enough to save themselves.

Plodding and predictable.

[Pras · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dari awal melihat pengarangnya, Saya langsung menyambar buku ini dan bergegas ke kasir. Philip Pullman mungkin lebih terkenal dengan bukunya Golden compass. Tapi saya melihat buku2 cerita anak-anak karangannya yang singkat lebih menarik. Kalau di buku "I was a rat" Ia membuat sisi lain dari cerita dongeng cinderella dan kejutan di akhir ceritanya. Dan di buku firework maker's daughter Ia membuat cerita anak dengan menggabungkan elemen dari berbagai kebudayaan. Di buku ini Pullman membuat gaya bercerita yang lain,menggabungkan tulisan dan komik. Komik disini bukan bersifat sebagai ilustrasi, coba lewatkan beberapa, niscaya anda akan kehilangan jalan cerita.
Selain itu humor-humor khas Pullman membuat saya tertawa beberapa kali. Salah satunya adalah kutipan-kutipan "singkat" yang muncul tiap awal bab. Bahkan ia mengkutip buku ini sendiri he..he.
Ceritanya sendiri sangat singkat, dan bisa dibaca dengan ringan. Cerita tentang 3 bersaudara yang ingin melarikan diri dari tempat panti asuhan mereka. Sekilas pada awalnya nuansa Oliver Twist dari Dickens mewarnai buku ini (panti asuhan, East end, pengasuh antagonis, penjahat pencopet), tapi dengan gaya bercerita Pullman seolah hal itu menjadi kocak.

[Tom Evershed · Rating 3 out of 5]

Phillip Pullman is a master storyteller and this fun tale of heroes, villains and orphans is always readable. The book is illustrated in a way that makes it half novel and half comic book and there are numerous playful ways in which it aims to engage directly with the reader. There is a clear aim for this book to act as a bridge between reading comics and reading novels and I suspect it would be pretty successful in that regard.

The story itself is unremarkable and, aside from its historical setting, the whole thing feels oddly dated, not that a young reader should mind. Pullman's work generally feels timeless but this was written in 1989 and, while that feels like yesterday to me, the way the book breaks the fourth wall perhaps makes it more susceptible to showing its age.

All in all, it's lightly entertaining throughout and it sometimes really did feel like I was reading the Beano in my childhood. Given Pullman's abilities, I wonder that he couldn't churn one of these out every week.

[Beth & Jared · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this book was quirky and funny. It had cute cartoons and a great story. I love how Pullman took an 19th century "penny dreadful' That was read by Brits all over England and made it into a comic story. I think I would recommend this book to my friends that have any likelihood to enjoy this. Pullman is one of my favorite authors and he still hasn't made a book I would think of criticizing. --E

[Norman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this simple illustrated novellette. the illustrations by David Mostyn enhance Pullman's clever words no end. I think this is a great book for children and fun to see the Victorian era taken semi-seriously

[Perpustakaan Dhila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kisah yang menakjubkan. Daripada menonton sinetron yang bukan untuk mereka, harusnya anak-anak membaca buku ini saja.

Kisah tentang keberanian melawan kejahatan. Jenaka dan kuat. Tak lekang oleh waktu *kemudian nyanyi*

Ih, pokoknya bagus. Baca ajalah biar kenalan sama Jack si Pelompat.

[eti · Rating 3 out of 5]

#11-2015

ini buku pinjaman jadi harus segera diselesaikan.

[Phillip · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a children's book adaptation of an actual urban legend figure from Regency/early Victorian London. It's an interesting take on Spring-Heeled Jack, who was a complicated figure (at least according to the episode of PBS' Monstrum I watched about him). Initially, Jack was a sort of preternatural attacker of women, somewhat like Jack the Ripper, except that it's not clear Spring-Heeled Jack ever murdered anyone (though he might have). Mainly he was known for having huge metal claws (an element Pullman leaves out), being extremely tall and thin, aristocratic dress, his ability to easily leap over walls and fences, and blowing smoke or even fire into victims' faces. It was only later that Jack began to be associated with protecting the victims of crime or oppression, and it's clearly this Jack Pullman is drawing on for his character.

The story is about a group of children who escape from a horrible Victorian orphanage to try and make their way to America for a better life, but they are pursued by the orphanage owners, attacked by the evil villain Mack the Knife, and run into a number of other obstacles. However, they are helped out by a sailor and a barmaid, and occasionally by Spring-Heeled Jack, who ultimately reunites them with their father--whom everyone had thought died at sea.

More interesting than the storyline, however, is the narrative style. The story is told partly in regular prose and partly through animated comic panels, which allows Pullman the luxury of both giving a lot of exposition (in the prose) and giving visual depictions of the characters and their adventures. It's an unusual blending that works to build the comparison between Jack and later comic book heroes--particularly Batman, who gets name dropped a couple of times and whom the illustrations of Jack somewhat resemble. Additionally, each chapter has an epigraph (a short excerpt from another text) that Pullman slightly rewords into the first line of his chapter, which brings in echoes of a lot of other books, especially children's books or Victorian novels. One interesting and self-conscious thing Pullman does with one chapter is actually uses the opening line of that chapter as its own epigraph. So, under the chapter number is the opening clause of the chapter with an attribution to Philip Pullman in the book Spring-Heeled Jack, then the chapter itself begins by repeating that opening phrase.
https://youtu.be/9X7sA-q4kMo

[Osama Siddique · Rating 2 out of 5]

Spring-Heeled Jack is an Urban Legend that I have always found mysterious and somewhat sinister. Which is the same for Philip Pullman's work. Hence, I was rather excited to come across this title bought for my youngest. However, while it may work for her I was did not derive much pleasure from it as I usually do from children's literature that work for all ages. Apart from a brief introduction to Spring-Heeled Jack at the start we don't come across him till half way through the book. He can jump alright and appears sinister but there is no more mystery to him. He seems rather diminished, plain and predictable as the equivalent of DC Comics superhero. The diabolical has been exorcised - understandable perhaps given it is meant for children (And I am assuming quite young ones for His Dark Materials Trilogy was unnervingly raw at times).

The drawings are well done; some lines are quite clever and funny; and, the tiny cat, mouse and bug characters commenting on the narrative from the margins are often delightful. Every chapter starts with a quote from a famous author which is nicely done and the narrative and dialogue have traces of the hugely popular A Series of Unfortunate Events. However, the orphans' story etc., is cliched though the arch villain Mack the Knife and especially the keepers of the orphanage (Mr. Killjoy & Miss Gasket of the Alderman Cawn-Plaster Memorial Orphanage) are well-drawn characters. On the whole not a bad book but not one I would remember for long or revisit.

[WordWitch · Rating 4 out of 5]

When three siblings escape the hellish orphanage into the London streets at night, what is waiting for them is pure evil in the name of Mack the Knife! Where there is evil, there is someone to purge it and we have Spring-Heeled Jack who dresses like a devil to bring wrath of justice upon the evil doers of Victorian London.

The question is, can these kids be saved on time?!

Based on a real life Victorian folklore of Spring-Heeled Jack, the book is perfect for a light read. And it comes with illustrations and comic panels too! The author turned the character into a crime fighting hero whereas in real life stories, Spring-Heeled Jack is another assailant himself.

A good middle school read that can serve as a decent read for adults too (like it did for me lolll)

[Jon Mackley · Rating 1 out of 5]

Part novella, part graphic novel. The format was annoying. Pullman I shall an excellent writer and the images served to hurry the story (so as to not slow down the pace with description, presumably). For me, it was rather distracting. Ok, it's a young person's story. Orphans in danger. Boo-able pantomime villain. Mysterious hero. But there's little substance to the story. Spring-heeled Jack comes in without reason like a Deus ex machina to save the day. It would have been really good if Pullman had offered some background to SHJ. As it is, the story is banal, the "twist" predictable, and any explanations are dissatisfying.

[Ella Scott]

I’m a huge Philip Pullman fan, but Spring-Heeled Jack just didn’t do it for me. This short story sees three young children escaping the clutches of their gruesome orphanage, only to run into the arms of the notoriously villainous Mack the Knife. However, Spring-Heeled Jack is on hand to save the day.

For me, this was pretty bland and almost unforgettable. At only 112 pages, it was always going to be impossible to create depth and a plot that wasn’t super straightforward. However, one step closer to reading all of Philip Pullman’s literary works. 19 down!

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book because it will be the fall play at Henry’s school and he is going to be on the stage crew. There’s some funny moments and the mixture of prose and illustrations makes for a funny and fast read. Should be funny on stage!

[Kimberly · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think the only thing I really liked about this book was at the beginning of each chapter, there were quotes from other books and those quotes led into the first line of each chapter. Other than that, it was a very pointless and predictable story.

[Vivienne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a short, sweet story about three orphans, Mack the Knife, and Spring-Heeled Jack, who here is a flamboyant hero.

The full cast recording lent via BorrowBox was excellent and very amusing. The actor playing Jack was certainly enjoying himself.

[Andy Myers · Rating 5 out of 5]

🎧📚 Whether or not the story is brilliant enough to warrant a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️, I don’t care. This rating is based on the audiobook version, so I absolutely recommend you hunt down a copy of the full-cast production of Phillip Pullman’s delectably vivid superhero tale set in Victorian London.