When Jack kills seven catfish with one stone, in this Appalachian folktale, the happy-go-lucky young man is soon sitting down to a hearty meal. But when he brags of his feat upon returning to his hometown, claiming he "killed seven with one blow," he soon finds himself appointed the town's defender, and dispatched to deal with the pesky giant living up on Balsam Mountain. Although no match for the giant's strength, Jack proves himself the cleverer of the two, tricking the giant, through a series of contests, into believing that he (Jack) is the stronger, and extracting a promise from him that he will leave the area...

Taken from Richard Chase's 1943 collection, The Jack Tales, where it was entitled Jack and the Giants' Newground, this story offers an Appalachian variant on the classic story of The Brave Little Tailor - tale type 1640 in the Aarne-Thompson folklore classification system - and is a humorous celebration of the triumph of quick thinking (and quite a bit of luck!) over brute strength. With plenty of regional flare, and amusing artwork that accentuates the fun of the story, Jack the Giant Chaser is a book I would recommend to young folklore enthusiasts, particularly those with a taste for Jack tales, or an interest in the Appalachian tradition. ( )