The Caldecott Medal is
awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children (a division
of the American Library Association) for excellence in children’s book
illustrating. David Wiesner has won the Caldecott Medal three times, for
FLOTSAM, TUESDAY, and THE THREE PIGS. In addition, his SECTOR 7 and FREE FALL
are Caldecott Honor books. The awards are well-deserved, as his illustrations
are magnificent.

TUESDAY (1991) shows the
mysterious events of a certain Tuesday evening. (The front cover bears this
disclaimer: “The events recorded here are verified by an undisclosed source to
have happened somewhere, U.S.A., on Tuesday. All those in doubt are reminded
that there is always another Tuesday.”) A bunch of bullfrogs are delighted when
their lily pads suddenly levitate at sundown. The battalion of frogs on lily
pads flies over the countryside to town, where the happy frogs surprise the
townsfolk, annoy the dogs, and appropriate a sleeping old lady’s television
remote control.
SECTOR 7 (1999) follows a
school class on a field trip to the Empire State Building. A curious cloud
befriends one of the boys and takes him to see the Sector 7 Cloud Dispatch
Center, where clouds receive assignments. The clouds are bored by their
assigned puffy roundish shapes, so the boy draws new blueprints for them: lion
fish, puffer fish, octopus and jellyfish. New Yorkers are delighted by the new
fishy-shaped clouds.
THE THREE PIGS (2001)
re-imagines the classic “Three Little Pigs” story. The clever pigs escape from
the two-dimensional confines of their storybook and go exploring through the
three-dimensional world. They pop into other stories, befriending the cat with
his fiddle and a dragon guarding a golden rose. Eventually, they return with
their new friends to the third pig’s brick house, where they all live happily
ever after.
My favorite is FLOTSAM
(2006), which is simply extraordinary. A boy hunting for treasures on the beach
finds a washed-up underwater camera. He has the film developed and is
astonished by the resultant photos: a clockwork fish schooling with its
biological cousins; bemused seahorses being photographed by miniscule green
aliens; verdant islands clinging to the backs of giant starfish; and an octopus
family relaxing on sunken couches. There are also photos of other children—the
previous finders of the wondrous camera. The boy reloads the camera and returns
it to the sea. The reader sees the camera floating through more magical scenes
and eventually washing up on a distant beach into the hands of another child.
David Wiesner’s illustrations
are intricately detailed and whimsical, appealing to adults as well as
children. Because the stories are largely wordless, even very young kids can
“read” them.
See David Wiesner’s website
here: http://www.hmhbooks.com/wiesner/index.html
For more
information about the Caldecott award see here:http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/caldecottmedal/caldecottmedal.cfm
5 comments:
I love the fantastical dreamy illustrations and would read these books for hose alone, but the stories sound intriguing too, even though my kids are beyond picture books and I don't read them much anymore. I do have young nieces and nephews and love to give books as gifts. Thanks for the great ideas.
These all look amazing, Laura! The art work is so cool. No wonder he's a regular for the coldecott award. Thanks so much for this great review!
The art is amazing. I sent several copies to my nephews for Christmas :)
If I remember correctly, my children's lit professor said that Tuesday is like Monty Python: people either love it or hate it.
I love it. David Wiesner is brilliant. Free Fall is probably my favorite, but I love the format of The Three Pigs and the cloud expressions in Sector 7. And of course the grinning flying frogs in Tuesday.
I love David Wiesner's books!! I'm a very visual person, so detailed pictures appeal to me, but the stories his pictures tell - almost completely without words - are even better! They're imaginative, funny, intriguing, and can be enjoyed by young and old alike! One of the things I like best is that each time we read them (because some books simply must be read as a family, regardless of the ages of those involved) we pick up little details we missed before. For instance: in Sector 7, we see the boy on the school bus reading a book about fish (which explains why he draws fish pictures for the clouds). Oh, these books are so much fun! I can never get enough!
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