This Is the House That Jack Built

The House on the Hill - A Simple and Simply Placed House

Jeanette Winter has added a verse at the beginning and end to place Jack's house on a hill. Winter's illustration of Jack's house shows a flat, fanciful view of the house surrounded by a border. The use of a border effectively distances the reader from the rhyme's action. Jack has his back to the reader and is disappearing into the house, making the house the center of attention. The house is drawn with childlike simplicity—a rectangle with a triangle roof. It is as symmetrical as the Caldecott house, but without the formal garden to distract the eye. Although there are clouds, stars, and the moon in the sky and flowers on the hill; none of these are close enough to touch the house. The strong colors are appealing—bold greens, blues and purples. Even the house is a shade of purple against a lighter purple sky surrounded by blue clouds with a quarter moon behind the hill below the house.