Flotsam (Caldecott Medal Book): A Caldecott Award Winner

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Each question can be answered many times by different children. Share the questions and answers, discussing each picture as you go.

Postcards, setting descriptions, non- chronological reports, message in a bottle letters Main Outcome: The Unforgotten Coat by Frank Cottrell Boyce – This book about a girl’s friendship with a Mongolian refugee is illustrated with photographs that make the everyday world seem exotic. Pair them, asking them to mirror each other’s movements, then progress to a ‘conversation’, where one child makes a movement answered by a different movement from their partner. The story begins with a curious boy who is visiting the beach. He has an interest in beach life and brings a multitude of exploration tools with him. As he’s exploring, a wave comes, and brings with it a strange looking camera. It resembles an underwater camera. He takes out the film and decides to have the film developed at the one hour photo department. The pictures he gets from the camera are amazing and show pictures of underwater sea life, including some strange mechanical fish. Within the photos he notices something strange and uses his microscope to figure it out. What he sees is surprising. Follow along in the story to see what he decides to do with it.

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a b c "Caldecott Medal & Honor Books, 1938–Present". Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC). American Library Association (ALA). Children will enjoy getting an overview of the story as a class, then exploring the book individually afterwards. Extend this into a dramatic scenario where a child taunts the waves. Ask your class to explore this via body movements. P.S. If you love this story and want to watch something similar, try out this incredible 8-minute wordless short by Peter Lewis, which has the same amazing but eerie feel as this book: THE CAMERA http://vimeo.com/32655795 Exceptionally clever, intricate and imaginative . . . Children and adults cannot fail to be impressed EYE

Create your own incredible pictures that show images that might have been taken by the underwater camera. One of the reasons I love Wiesner’s work is that he comes up with ideas I would never think about. A mysterious camera would be something a child would want to keep so the lesson here is to see if the boy understands the long-term goal of the obviously amazing camera. An enjoyable read. The illustrations are breathtaking and vivid. The illustrations are done through many different perspectives, making turn paging that much more exciting. Each image is both realistic and full of fantasy. It allows the reader to use their imagination and creativity to piece together the story. In the same place, close to trees and plants that will change with the seasons, photograph a different child at weekly intervals. Its playful sophistication conveys a complexity of ideas that linger in the mind long after the book has been closed, encouraging discussion and inspiring all kinds of responses. Teach PrimaryThis book is very thought-provoking. The illustrations are beautiful and the story is easy to follow. This is one of my favorites this year. Flotsam” is an imaginative children’s book about learning about the discoveries of new places and in this case, new worlds. Also, this book seems to aim for the theme of sharing your discoveries with other people, so that they could experience the same magic that you have experience also. I would recommend this book to children ages three and up since there is nothing inappropriate in this book and the format will be easy for them to read. Free Fall was the first example of the predominant style of his solo books, which tell a fantastical, often dream-like story without words, only illustrations. Subsequently he won three Caldecott Medals for solo picture books— Tuesday (1991), The Three Pigs (2001), and Flotsam (2006)—and he was one of the runners-up for Sector 7 (1999) and Mr. Wuffles! (2013). ( Marcia Brown is the only other person to win three Caldecotts, from 1955 to 1983.) [1] Collecting shells on the beach, a boy is caught by a wave. When it recedes, he finds an old-fashioned camera containing seemingly impossible scenes of underwater life. Look at a map and find your closest beach. How far away is it? How could you travel there? How long might the journey take?

Encourage speculation about what the pictures might show, then get the film developed (maybe a local shop will allow your class to see the process?). Look at the different items of scientific equipment that the family brought to the beach with them. What are they? How are they used? At the Rhode Island School of Design, Wiesner was able to commit himself to the full-time study of art and to explore further his passion for wordless storytelling. There he met two people who would figure prominently in his life: Tom Sgouros, to whom Tuesday is dedicated, and David Macaulay, to whom The Three Pigs is dedicated. These two men not only taught Wiesner the fundamentals of drawing and painting but also fostered his imaginative spirit and helped him comprehend the world around him. Sgouros's and Macaulay's artistic influences were vital to Wiesner's development into the acclaimed picture-book author he is today.Wiesner was born and raised in Bridgewater Township, New Jersey, and attended Bridgewater-Raritan High School. He graduated from Rhode Island School of Design with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in illustration. [3] Wiesner currently resides outside of Philadelphia with his family.

Create some captions, speech and thought bubbles to accompany the beautiful illustrations in the book. David Small (November 12, 2006). "Fish in Focus". The New York Times . Retrieved 2011-06-16. Review of Flotsam (Clarion Books, 2007). Explain that they’re going to create an imaginary undersea creature, using pegs to secure their objects together. David Wiesner’s wordless, imaginative and exuberantly detailed picture book is a joy to share with children at KS2. Its playful sophistication conveys a complexity of ideas that linger in the mind long after the book has been closed, encouraging discussion and inspiring all kinds of responses. Flotsam" by David Wiesner is a wordless picture book. The story takes place at the shore. It is mostly told through the perspective of the camera after a young boy finds the vintage camera on the beach. He develops the film and it tells an adventurous and imaginative story of all the places the camera has been.The book is completely devoid of any dialogue - which is its great advantage: although a few English words on its cards they are not essential to understanding and enjoying the story. This allows for Flotsam to be enjoyed by all as it is not bound by any language, like classical music. How many different creatures and plants can you identify in the illustrations? Can you write a report about one (or more) of them? Again, use the images (and messages, if there are any) to generate ideas about who these people could have been.