From: Steven Engelfried <sengelfried>
Date: Thu, 1 Feb 2007 21:19:37 -0800 (PST)

One thing I appreciate about "Flotsam" is that it features a more wide ranging story than any wordless picture book I can think of. Most wordless books follow a fairly direct story line, even ones with twists and surprises, such as "Sector 7." But "Flotsam" has more dramatic narrative and artistic shifts. The first thread of a curious child discovering the amazing underwater world could have been very satisfying if the book ended with that. But then moving it backwards in time gave the book a different dimension and deeper meaning. It's a significant swtich from fantastic, fun scenes to the historical series. Now we meet this unexpected group of kids, all, we assume, with that common quality of curiosity that the modern boy has. And without seeing it, we know that each of them saw some equally amazing underwater photos (which is confirmed as we see the camera taking more pictures on the way to its next child). I think Wiesner has done something new here, telling a
 visual story with a more complex narrative structure, while seamlessly unifying the different directions with overall themes of the importance of curiosity and looking closer (exemplified by highlighting the varied lenses used throughout). It must have been incredibly challenging for the committee to compare "Flotsam" to a book like "Moses," when the two have such different styles, themes, and goals. I have no doubt that the committee didn't spend time discussing the illustrators' backgrounds, race, or award track record, though...besides being prohibited by the award guidelines, both books just have too much impressive artwork to discuss.
   


Steven Engelfried Multnomah County Library 205 NE Russell Street Portland, OR 97212-3796 503-988-5206 stevene at yahoo.com
 
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Received on Thu 01 Feb 2007 11:19:37 PM CST