This version of Jack and the Beanstalk was first published in 1974 and has been retold countless times since then.  A disclaimer in the front states that this version is adapted from a book titled The History of Mother Twaddle and the Marvelous Achievementsof her Son Jack, written in 1807.  The title is a mouthful.  In this version, Jack’s mother is sweeping the floor and finds a coin and sends Jack with it to market to buy a goose.  They don’t say they are poor and about to starve, nor do the illustrations show a poor, rundown home, but actually a well-equiped and furnished home.  He goes to the market and rather than getting a goose he falls for a peddler selling a magic bean.  The story goes as expected until Jack climbs up the beanstalk, the giant does his fe, fe, fo, fum, drinks and falls asleep.  There is no golden egg-laying chicken, no bag of gold, no singing harp.  Jack chops off the giant’s head and sends for his mother and they both live happily ever after.  This story is too gruesome and violent to read to the audience for which it is intended.  I won’t use it to compare to other stories, nor will I keep it on the shelf.