National Network for Equitable Library Service

The second in an ongoing series of Jack stories, featuring retellings and adaptations by Andy Jones, and illustrations by Darka Erdelji. The first, The Queen of Paradise's Garden, was published by Running the Goat in 2009. This story was partly inspired by Jonathan Goldstein's retellings of Bible stories, and by Mary Walsh and Cathy Jones's "Deb and Sheila" sketch. The narrative voice was inspired by the oral traditions of Newfoundland and Labrador, and uses the energy of the dialect and verbal traditions to capture the cadence of the language. The author has created a voice that is more musical than it is grammatical.