Confidence

[Kallen]

The book Jack the Wolf by Yvonne Jagtenberg is about a boy named Jack and his first day at school. Towards the beginning of the story, Jack is very shy, timid, and even scared. As he enters his new classroom, he is overwhelmed by the new students that he sees, he is then frightened by classroom’s wolf mask. Soon after, Jack wants to go home, but instead the class starts to sing Little Red Riding Hood. Jack is assigned to be the wolf, once he is, his classmates are scared and ask for Jack to return. Through this Jack, feels appreciated and welcomed as his new classmates want to see Jack. This book contributes to the central theme of confidence as Jack learns how to be confident without, the Wolf mask making him feel more empowered. In addition, it also emphasizes the idea to not change for others and to be confident in yourself. The reading, Decoding the images How picture books work, states that “the words in picture books always tells us that things are not merely as they appear in the pictures, and the pictures always show us that events are not exactly as the words describe them” (Nodelman, pg.137). This book is a great example of this because the illustrations are the ones who express and show the emotions that Jack feels throughout the day. Without the illustrations the reader would not be able to know the emotions that Jack feels as he interacts with his new surroundings.