Brown. The World that Jack Built

The World that Jack Built is a children's book by Ruth Brown, with art by the author, published in 1991. It is available at the Internet Archive.

This beautifully illustrated book by Ruth Brown has an environmental take on the "Jack" story. The cat does not appear in the text, but you will find the cat in every illustration, exploring the world. The chain grows as the cat goes farther and farther from the house, finally reaching "the hills that form the valley that surrounds the woods that shelter the meadows that border the stream that flows past the trees that grow by the house that Jack built." It's a valley full of beauty:

Then, the story shifts to the next valley over. Now the story a reverse countdown, not cumulative, backing us through the same features as before — woods, hills, meadows, stream, trees ... but the trees are not there anymore, because they are next to the factory that Jack built.

The "house that Jack built" was just an excuse to explore the beautiful world in the first half of the book, but the "factory that Jack built" is the key to understanding the second half of the book. Very nicely done!