Saturday, November 26, 2011

The World Above by Cameron Dokey



The World Above by Cameron Dokey
                            A Retelling of "Jack and the Beanstalk"
175 pages

    Gen lives in the World Below. When her twin brother, Jack, trades the family cow for magic beans, Gen is furious, but, to her surprise, their mother is not-she's happy. She tells the twins that the stories she told them about the World Above are real, and the beans will grow magic beanstalks so they can climb there.
    In the stories, Gen's mother was the duke's wife, but she had to escape when her husband was murdered. Now, she knows she can go back with her children and claim what is rightfully theirs.
    But when Jack doesn't come back from the World Above and Gen goes after him, they realize that things are much more complicated.


    "I'm sorry I never really believed," I said. "Not the way Jack did."
    "It doesn't make any difference," my mother replied. Her eyes focused on the beanstalk for a moment, then returned to mine. "You believe now. Be safe and smart up there, my Gen. Be yourself.
    Before I could answer, my mother turned away and walked quickly toward the house. I turned to face the beanstalk.
    There is no going back, now, I thought.
    For better or worse, there was only going forward. There was only going up. Seizing the trunk of the beanstalk with both hands, I pushed of from the World Below and began to climb

3 comments:

  1. I loved this book! Have you read the other retellings in this series? A bunch of different authors have written the other retellings. You can find a list of them on goodreads.com. My favorite is Midnight Pearls: A Retelling of "The Little Mermaid" by Debbie Viguie.

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  2. Yes, this book is really great! I own a lot of them and I have read almost all of them. The problem is, I will only buy them if they have the covers like this one and not the paintings. I think they look weird.

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  3. I've been looking around your blog and already added several new books to my reading list! :) I'm so glad you let me know about it.

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