Thea's Tree

By: Alison Jackson (2008)
This story is about a girl named Thea that plants a seed as part of a science project she is starting for school. As the seed begins to grow into what she believes is a giant tree, she starts sending letters to various experts around the community to ask them for help in identifying the type of plant that she is growing. The experts send her letters back telling her that they have no idea what type of plant she is growing because based on her descriptions there is nothing like what she is describing growing in Topeka, Kansas. Thea begins to find items corresponding to the Jack and the Beanstalk story, like a golden egg, coins, and a singing harp. She contacts contacts the experts on these subjects, however they are not much help either in identifying the source of these items. As Thea is writing her final conclusion she hears a loud noise and suddenly the beanstalk is gone and all that is left are some giant footsteps.

I really liked this story because of how it was told and because of the interesting twist that it took on a popular fairy tale. I thought that it was neat that the author used letters back and forth from characters to describe what was happening in the story. There was also some humor involved that I think younger readers would really like, especially if they were familiar with Jack and the Beanstalk. Many of the responses from the experts were technical, yet clueless, and I think younger readers would be able to see that Jack and the Giant were behind many of the things that Thea was finding.

I would like to read this book to my class because it sets a good example for how to guide your own learning and ask questions that interest you. I also like how it shows Thea asking local experts for help, which I think is an important thing to do, especially in science. I think this book could lead to many science lessons on planting seeds, where students try to follow Thea's example of asking local experts for help.