Jack Be Nimble

Jumping Jack – As a Young Boy

This is one of the shortest and simplest of the nursery rhymes with almost no variation in the text. One expects the accompanying image to be of a young boy agile enough to jump over a burning candle and foolish enough to try it. Look closely at these images, note the following, and ask yourself how these representations elicit different responses:

• Jack’s age
• What he is wearing
• Who or what else is in the image
• Relative sizes of Jack and the candlestick
• Background colors, if any