Jesse absolutely refuses to let Gary Fulcher see his drawing.

When Gary asks to see Jesse's drawing, Jesse covers it with his arm to block the other boy from seeing it. Gary persists, however; he tries to yank Jesse's arm away and even pulls on his thumb to uncover the drawing.

Jesse reacts by covering it with both arms and slamming his heel down on Gary's toe. The teacher then tells them both to be quiet and threatens Jess with the loss of recess and copying the dictionary if he makes another sound.

Jesse is very protective of his drawings. He's not comfortable with the other people at school seeing them, even though he wants to show them to his dad earlier in the novel. He decides not to because his dad sees art as a waste of time. Jesse also mentions that his teachers don't like his art and see it as a waste of supplies.

Jess is very protective of his art, as it is basically an extention of himself, and Jess suffers from extremely low self-esteem. He is the only male child at home, he receives little to no support from his family, he is bullied at school, and based on all of this you have to consider that Jess would be pretty sensitive to having his work viewed and possibly criticized by others.

Jesse is extremely self-conscious about his drawing. He feels isolated from his peers and from his family for so many reasons. He doesn't "fit in" at school, coming from a poor family, being a quiet kid. He doesn't "fit in" at home because he is imaginative and artistic, not like the athletic , farm "son" he should be. He is terrified to show his drawing to anyone because he fears more ridicule.