The Giant's Toe

by Cole, Brock. (Farrar, 1986 ISBN 0374425574. Out of Print.) Picture Book. 32 pages. Grades 1+.
This book was reviewed by Carol Otis Hurst in Teaching K-8 Magazine.

Review

In this Jack and the Beanstalk related book, we meet a giant who accidently slices off his toe. Immediately the toe turns into a little boy who foils the giant's every attempt to do away with him. In fact, he disposes of all the giant's treasures in the process. When Jack shows up, there's no goodies left for him to steal.

Much of the humor is found in the illustrations. The giant is not a fierce monster but a rather nice looking elderly gentleman, albeit of large size. The Toe (and the giant never refers to him as anything but "Toe") is an irrepressible little boy. Somehow the reader is not put off by the slicing of of the giant's toe or by the giant's rather violent ways of disposing of him. The reader gradually discovers the "Jack and the Beanstalk" connection and the happily ever after implication at the end of the story makes it very satisfying.