STORYTELLER

A youngster tired of ordinary stories demands that his grandfather tell him something different. So begins the tale of Jack the Storyteller. Elements from familiar folktales are interwoven with new twists and modern sensibilities in this many-layered story within a story that contains still more stories. Its framework is the picaresque tale of Jack, who sets out to seek his fortune and finds love, adventure, political intrigue, adversity and sorrow. The cast of magnificently varied and multidimensional characters includes a viciously greedy king, an evil illusionist, a princess who feels trapped by her royal position and a brilliant, talking bird who is hopelessly in love with a fish. The stories Jack tells along the way are not mere diversions, but act as clever devices that provide insight into the nature of power, love, good and evil. As Myers engages the reader in the tale, he also deftly and subtly explores and illuminates the writer’s craft and the very basis of story and the power of storytelling. Marvelous. (Fiction. 10 & up)