Flotsam

Photo courtesy Amazon.
Author/Illustrator: DAVID WIESNER
Recommended Age group: 2 and up. You are limited only by your imagination!
Caldecott Award: 2007

I have been reading children’s books for the past three years. The main things I consider while picking out a book are message and language development. For people like me, books like Flotsam are eye openers. This is a wordless picture book and I REALLY noticed the pictures, the effort the author has put in to the pictures in order to convey the message and was simply astounded. The medium Wiesner uses is watercolor. Every seashell is meticulously drawn. The use of lines and the play of light are so wonderful that one can almost feel its texture. The colors are pleasing to young children making the children focus on the story without overly stimulating them. The placement of pictures also plays a major role in story telling in this wordless storybook.

Wiesner’s message through his books - magical things are happening all around us, anything can happen anywhere, do not limit your imagination/dreams and never loose hope on your dreams becoming true(Digression: Check out Wiesner’s 1992 Caldecott Medal book TUESDAY. It talks about the dream of frogs coming true. Any one, even frogs can dream and you never know it might just come true! Keep dreaming, it keeps you alive!).

Flotsam is a story in which a boy finds an underwater camera in a beach, washed ashore by the waves. The boy is not able to find the owners of the camera and decides to develop the pictures from the film in the camera. When he looks at the developed pictures, a whole new world is thrown wide open to him. From now on it is a fantasy journey not only for the boy but also to the readers. The older readers who know about the functioning of a ‘real world’ stare open eyed at the mechanical fishes swimming along side the real ones, a family of octopus sitting on a couch reading a book, puffed up puffer fish acting like a hot air balloon, gigantic sea turtles with a whole city on their shell and star fishes of colossal size – that make grey whales look tiny, housing an entire island on them. That’s not where the surprise ends, one has to read the book to find out what the final surprise!

It was so surprising how different the adult mind works when compared to a child’s mind. I am trying to make some sense of the pictures, and this is exactly how my brain went:
A key wound mechanical fish?!
What do I say if the children ask me to explain this?
May be I can say that this is a marine experiment and the biologists are observing patterns about this school of fish.
Whaaaat? A family of octopus sitting on a couch and reading books?
Aahhha! I see a moving container capsized behind the octopus and the couch must have fallen out of the container. The octopus just happened to sit on it.
What now? Puffer fish flying??? Okay I give up. There is no way in hell I can explain this….

And guess what questions I had to answer? ‘What is the boy’s name?’, ‘Ammaaaa, hermit crab eyes popping out of his head? That’s so silly[they put their index fingers on their fore heads and start doing a hermit crab routine. They even came with a voice for the hermit crab]’, ‘The boy has two shovels, one blue and one red. Can I have two shovels?’, ‘Can we put fish on our couch?’. They just surrendered to the story line and digested everything! Gosh, why did I even worry about flying fish and floating aliens? Teh open mindedness, amazes me.

There was a lot of language involved. By the time we finished reading this book, the boy had a name, ‘Geeg’ (please don’t ask me why, I did not name him). When he looks through a ring, his eyes become bigger(Errr.. in the book the boy is looking at a crab through a magnifying glass and Wiesner has painted it from the perspective of some one observing the boy. So you can see normal right eye and part of left eye through the magnifying lens). He is playing on the beach and is not being responsible, always listen to your mommy and daddy Geeg (I thought I was looking at myself and listening to myself)…and so Flotsam from a 2 year old and a 3.5 year old’s perspective goes on…..

Ahaha, I am not revealing the final knot. Go get a copy of Flotsam and discover it yourself. Hey, you, you and you get off the couch and get the book. Next post surprise quiz on Flotsam.

If...

A few blogs entries below, Ranjani dealt with the fascinating subject of Why? - the ever questioning nature of children regarding happenings around them. I am going to deal with a book with similar theme - but, from a different perspective.

Wonder and amazement comes naturally to kids. It is a trait that needs to be nurtured and not suppressed. The book 'If...' by Sarah Perry re-kindles the interest and questioning nature of the kids. The book is strewn with various 'ifs..' followed by an illustration that depicts the what if scenario. Some of the interesting ifs... include --

What if there are fishes instead of leaves on the trees.
What if worms had wheels...
What if ants could count...

Each illustration is surrealistic and depicts the what if concept in a stylish and elegant manner. It is a very simple book with a powerful concept behind it.

Some of the ifs might make a few adults say 'yuck'!, but, children would love them. For example, one of the ifs is 'if mice were hair...' and it showed a very realistic painting of a small girl who had mice on her head instead of hair. Ranjani found it very yucky, but, Sooraj had a great laugh. Similarly, I felt a bit irritated when I saw the illustration of 'if toes were teeth'. But, children would love to see such wonderful and realistic portrayal of odd things.

If you had noticed, I had used the term surrealistic to describe the illustrations and later used the term realistic. But, the truth is that the illustrations are both surrealistic and realistic at the same time.

As kids grow up - the society, parents and friends mould them and slowly we make them a replica of ourselves by imposing our own ideas in a subtle manner. A book like this would act as a deterrent to the relentless moulding that the whole society works on without its own knowledge. It helps them to explore a world where things can be different and probably make them realise that there is nothing wrong in thinking/acting differently .

Flyaway Katie - by Polly Dunbar

A gray gray day is what it is. And your spirits are low. And you really need a lifter! What do you do? Well if you are lost on ideas, perhaps you need a helping hand. How about I tell you the story of little Katie, who was also feeling quite gray. So gray...that there is no colour in her at all. And the birds in the picture on her wall look sooo much more interesting and happy than she does.

But wait! She just had an idea! And I think it involves some green. A green hat, I mean. She just found herself a bright green hat and she put it on. She looks nice and feels a little better, but still...the gray won't go away. :(

Hmmmm....that's the sound of another idea cooking up in her head. And this time, it involves yellow. Bright, fluorescent, sunshiny yellow! The yellow of the tights that she pulls on to add more colour into her life. And she pulls them on soo high, it comes right up to her nose. She's a funny sight, this Katie is. Feel like a smile now, do you? Well, I wouldn't blame you. Colour has a way of doing that to people. Look at Katie. She's feeling brighter already...but not bright enough.

Time for another colour, you think? Well, you're right! And blue has arrived, in the form of her pretty shiny shoes. And now, she's finally into the swing of things. No stopping her now, no siree! A pink dress it is...her best pink dress...and she's getting brighter!

Next, she's painting her lips a shiny shiny red. And her face a blue to match her shoes. Oooops! She must look a sight. Just put together all those colours you have seen so far. And then add orange to it. Yup, orange! Because she just painted orange stripes on her arms!!! And pink's cousin was not to be left out either, for she painted her fingertips purple!

Phew!! I think she's finally done. It was getting dizzying, wasn't it? But you forgot all about your grays, didn't you? Katie's now standing still so the paint can dry. And then....slowly, slowly...something happens. A light flittery fluttery something.

What's that? What happened to her you ask? Well...take a look at that painting on her wall. Yes, that painting with the birds. The happy birds. Look closer. Do you see a familiar green, yellow, blue, pink, red, orange, purple somebody in there? Well...there's your answer. For Katie just figured out a way to be part of that picture she always fancied. Tweet tweet tweet tweet...all the birds said when they saw her. And that's where she stayed all afternoon...rollicking around, until it was time to fly home...for her bath. Now now, don't raise your eyebrows at that colour filled watery mess on the bathroom floor. After all, she just helped you drive your grays away!

Well, now that you know all about Katie, here are some other tidbits that I wanted to share. I had borrowed this book a long time ago and enjoyed reading it so much that I always remembered it. Its such a simple, whimsical, fashionably minimalistic story about a little girl with tons of imagination. Winkie enjoyed our second innings with it too. Especially, since he had a painting on the wall that he kept looking at imagining his own little self flying right into it...and suddenly it all became very real to him, and he was riveted. Also, the book was simple enough for him, as a beginner reader, to read it by himself with some help from me on a few words.

The book is authored and illustrated by Polly Dunbar. It was her first picture book and in her own words...

"Flyaway Katie is about the ability we all have to change our mood and make ourselves feel happier. All you need is a bit of creativity and a lick of paint!"

Do check out her website. Its equally whimsical, funny and a spunky way to display a bio. It will also give you a fair idea about how the book has been illustrated. In my words, I would call it fun, frivolous and downright funky. Right from the very first page, which houses the title and publication information...there is a picture of an exotic looking bird, one of the birds from the painting in fact, looking inside a mirror. Only, this bird is gray. But its reflection is all in colour. Very cute! And the bird has left behind a set of footprints, which are also in colour. And I have attempted to replicate those footprints use it as a little divider up there.

So, whenever you are feeling blue errrr...gray...I hope you will remember Katie and her colour filled afternoon!

Now THAT'S thinking out of the box!

Not a box by Antoinette Portis captures the childhood magic for children everywhere who love playing "in" cardboard boxes. If your toddler/preschool kid already is into creative play with cardboard boxes (or even laundry baskets), you'd probably want to consider this book because he/she might very well be able to relate to the hero of this story - a little rabbit/bunny whose playful fantasies center around imagining a cardboard box to be anything and everything it wants it to be - from a race car to a robot and a rocket, a mountain, and what not. If your kid is not interested in boxes, still a perfect reason to introduce this book because it will open up a new world of creative play for your little ones. For grown-ups amongst us who've outgrown the love for boxes, the book can be a great reason to relive your childhood memories with your children!

I found Not a Box to be unique and refreshing in its simplicity. Bunny adores his cardboard box! On each page, bunny is asked what he is doing with the box. For example, when asked by the narrator - "Why are you standing on that box?". Bunny instantly replies it is "not a box". The illustration explains what the bunny is doing with the box. Bunny is desperate in that he wants to get the narrator to see that it's NOT A BOX!

Here's what I really liked about this book:

1) The cover is rough brown paper, and mimics the look of a cardboard box. I loved this simple and down-to-earth style cover design, and the book looked as if it has been wrapped in basic, grocery-bag-brown paper. Very unique! Don't miss the net wt 11.5 oz on the cover, which lends a more boxy feel to the book!

2) The drawings are simple line drawings featuring the bunny and all the things it imagines with a box

3) Language minimal and repetitive

4)Vast age range for readership - read-aloud for toddlers/preschoolers and for kids in early elementary grades, an easy read

5) Little boys and girls will enjoy alike

My older one sometime around her fourth birthday had developed an intense affection toward boxes. She would often be found sitting inside a huge cardboard box - basically it was a computer box in which our desktop had come wrapped in. She would draw, color, and scribble her thoughts away sitting in the box. Sometimes even color the sides of the box. Needless to mention, it was sheer fun for me to watch her antics, and to be amazed by the creative potential a simple box can offer to little ones. She would sometimes even put all her stuffed animals inside, and pretend to drive. Therefore, it was only natural that we would pick up this book from the library.

The only downside that I noticed with the illustrations is that it might be hard for a very young child (2/3yr olds) to perceive the drawings as a box. You may want to bring a "real" box to visually explain the book to toddler/preschoolers. It must be easier for older kids (5 and 6 yr olds) to understand the three dimensional drawings - as in how the image of a square transforms into a box.

This book is simple and fun, and an unassuming, down-to-earth kind. It will provide you and your kid with tons of ideas to explore during playtime. I think the book conveys effectively to children that "their imagination" matters to adults. And that it is up to us parents to recognize and celebrate the imagination of our children. This message is evident from the fact that the author has dedicated the book "to children everywhere sitting in cardboard boxes". And this she shows to us that she cares! That's a key take-away for me from NOT A BOX!

Tuesday

Some of the wonderful moments that I have had with Sooraj is when we talk about dragons and other imaginary creatures that inhabit the stories that I concoct for him. I enjoy science fantasy, therefore, most of the stories that I make up for him includes some wild and imaginary beings.

There are very few children's books that are fantasy based - atleast I do not come across them very often. One such book that captured my attention is Tuesday - a great book by David Weisner, the king of wordless books.

Tuesday is an imaginary story that begins when three smug frogs lying on lily pads, one tuesday evening, suddenly find themselves afloat or flying. Soon, almost every frog on every lily pad is afloat. The lily pads look like small magic carpets specifically designed for the frogs to fly. Slowly and quietly, all the frogs fly up and decide to explore the neighbourhood sleepy town. As they frog explore the town, the book follows their adventurous journey. The illustrations are extremely life like and done in green, blue and purple water colours. They depict the silent Tuesday night in extremely vivid detail. At times, one could almost feel that one is travelling along with the frogs on those green magic carpets. As time passes on, the daylight breaks and the lily pads lose their flighty nature and fall down. The rather proud frogs can no longer stay afloat and start falling down to their huge dismay and return back to the marshes feeling rather forlorn.

And then, the next Tuesday evening breaks and the next flying adventure starts! This time it is some one else; read(is that the correct word to describe the book?) the book to find out who it is.

It is great book to spend with you kid. Keep turning the pages and let your kid make up the story as it goes along. Sooraj loved the story and we ended watching out in the dark sky for some flying frogs. Although, we did not find any; we are hopeful that we would find one soon. We did spot a flying dragon eye though!

If you have not watched a silent movie; do not worry - Tuesday is the book for you and your kid.