Jack and the Night Visitors

Author: Pat Schories
Publication Date: 2006
Type of Book: Peer Recommended Picture Book

This wordless picture book shares the story of a young boy named Jack who one night encounters some out of town visitors. While laying in bed Jack saw a light shining outside of his bedroom window. Curious as to what was causing the bright light he went over to take a look. From there he saw a little space ship that was packed with aliens. They hopped out, came inside Jack's room, and started exploring. They were hungry so Jack went downstairs to grab some food for them. Everyone was having a great time until Jack took one of the aliens and trapped him inside of a glass jar. The alien in the jar was scared and so were the others. Jack was scared as well because everyone started panicking. He didn't realize that what he did was wrong and how his actions came across as scary to the aliens. When he let the alien go he quickly ran away and they left on their spaceship to return home.

I thought that this was a really adorable story. Since it was wordless I liked how I was able to interrupt what happened using the illustrations to help me. The illustrations were well done and did a fantastic job in telling the story. I didn't expect Jack to capture one of the aliens because he seemed to really like them. I then realized that he wasn't being mean by capturing one. He liked the alien so much he wanted to keep it but didn't take into account how this would make the alien feel.

This would be a great story for younger children. Since it is wordless they wouldn't encounter problems with not knowing the words. Students can create their own story based on the illustrations. The teacher can also use this story to teach them about nature/wildlife. Many children love playing with creatures they find outside such as butterflies and caterpillars. When they capture these creatures they end up dying because that is not their natural habitat. Students can learn that they can play with these creatures as long as they let them return to where they came from in the end.

Image References:
http://bookcarousel.blogspot.com/2006/04/jack-and-night-visitors-by-pat.html