Beanstalk: The Measure Of A Giant

Charlesbridge Math Adventures

by Ann McCallum Staats, James Balkovek

In this new spin on the classic tale, Jack climbs the beanstalk and finds a giant friend. How can Jack and the giant do things together when they are such different sizes? Humorous illustrations clearly show their math problems and how they solve them.

Genres: Mathematics, Childrens, Picture Books

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

A former educator with a master's degree in education, Ann McCallum Staats is an award-winning author. Her book "Fantastic Flora: The World's Biggest, Baddest, and Smelliest Plants" (Candlewick/ MIT Kids Press) shares how some of the weirdest plants survive and thrive. She is also the co-author with astronaut Karen Nyberg of "A Quilt of Stars," releasing Fall, 2026. When she's not writing, Ann travels, mentors, and connects with audiences. Find out more at www.annmccallumbooks.com or on Instagram @annmsbooks or other social media.

Reviews

[Brooklynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book, by Ann McCallum, uses colorful illustrations to tell the tale of a boy who climbs a beanstalk and befriends a giant. Throughout the story, the boy and the giant want to find ways to do things together like play basketball and checkers, but their size difference makes it difficult. They use math to help them come up with ways to play together without the game being unfair. This text would be great for a math lesson or a lesson on friendship and not judging. The teacher could read aloud this text and when the boys come to a problem, have the students pair up to try to figure out a way they can solve their problem. Students would have to have experience with the types of problems before they read though because some of them are complex. This book WOWed me because I loved the way it taught math in a fun way using real life examples. Using this book, students could begin to think about more ways they could use math in their everyday life.

[Anna Venanzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beanstalk: The measure of a giant is about a boy who climbs the beanstalk to meet a young giant. Ray and Jack become good friends who play different types of games together. They use ratios to make games work together for both the boy and the giant. They describe the different use of math adventures to understand how math effect your life no matter what it is.

type of book: folklore and intermediate
rating of the book: five stars.I love reading this book because of the creativity of the illustrations and how math is involved to show children math can be fun learning and understand the difference between reality and realistic.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Best for kids ages 8 and up
Early Literacy Skills: Print Motivation, Narrative Skills

From cover:
Jack has a giant problem.
Jack climbs the beanstalk and finds a new friend. But the friend is a giant who is five times his height! They try to play ball, but the ball is almost as big as Jack. Jack's games are the perfect size for him, but are much too small for the giant. How can the two ever play together? When Jack invites his new friend home, he realizes just how big the problem is. Can a 4-foot boy and a 20-foot giant really be friends?

A math adventure this time with a fairy tale twist. Nicely illustrated story about ratios.