Half Upon A Time is a Fractured Fairy Tale novel by James Riley, published in 2010. It was the 2011 NCTE Notable Children's Book in the Language Arts. The story focuses on Jack, who shares the same name as his father, the central figure of Jack and the Beanstalk. Jack is at the bottom of his class when it comes to learning Princess Rescue, a skill he sees as pointless as there are no unwed princesses left to rescue, anyway. None, that is, until a girl named May literally falls out of the sky. The book was followed by a sequel called Twice Upon a Time.