Flotsam by David Wiesner

Bibliography
Wiesner, David. Flotsam. New York: Clarion Books. 2006. ISBN – 10: 0-618-29457-6 ISBN-13: 978-0-61849457-5

Plot Summary
What is flotsam? Anything that is washed ashore in the ocean.
This is a story about a day at the beach told through the Eye of a boy. Each picture offers the reader the opportunity to imagine the story from his or her own perspective. The boy is prepared to spend the day exploring his surroundings. While inspecting a crab he is deluged by a wave and discovers a barnacle-encrusted underwater camera that has washed ashore. He quickly discovers that it has film in it and rushes to have it developed. By the look in his Eye you know the pictures must be magical. You have just entered an underwater mystery when looking at pictures of an octopus’s living room, a turtle with a village on its shell, aliens on vacation, and a puffer fish as a hot air balloon offering rides to the fish. There are also pictures of girls and boys who have taken their own pictures by the ocean in different parts of the world and from different eras. He takes his picture on the beach and throws the camera back into the ocean where it is carried by the ocean to another beach in another part of the world to be once again found by a girl. The adventure continues.

Critical Analysis
This is a wordless book that tells its story descriptively and realistically through the beautiful watercolor pictures. This is truly David Wiesner’s style. His pictures allow the reader to feel, see, smell, and imagine what the young boy is coming into contact with. Told through the eye of the boy you can feel the treasure troves and form your own observations with the same excitement that he is experiencing. The magic of the pictures pulls you into the story wanting to search and find the hidden treasure. This book is rated for 4-8 year olds, but is a great addition to any age collection. Use this book for science classes to enforce the power of observation and imagination. Every time this story is told through someone’s eyes, the story will be different and that is the magic of this timeless book.

Review Excerpts
"Filled with inventive details and delightful twists, each snapshot is a tale waiting to be told." School Library Journal

"In Wiesner's much-honored style, the paintings are cinematic, coolly restrained and deliberate, beguiling in their sibylline images and limned with symbolic allusions. An invitation not to be resisted." Kirkus Reviews

"Like Chris Van Allsburg's books and Wiesner's previous works, this visual wonder invites us to rethink how and what we see, out in the world and in our mind's eye." Booklist

Awards and Praise
Winner of the 2007 Randolph Caldecott Medal
A New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Book
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
A Kirkus Reviews Best Children's Book of 2006
A Booklist Editor's Choice 2006
A School Library Journal Best Book of 2006
A Horn Book Fanfare Title
A Child magazine Best Book of the Year
A Parenting magazine Book of the Year
A Nick Jr. Best Children's Book of 2006
A Book Sense Children's Pick, Autumn 2006
A Washington Post Top 10 Picture Book of the Year
A Parents' Choice Award Winner
A 2006 National Parenting Publications Gold Award Winner
New York Public Library, 100 Titles for Reading & Sharing
Chicago Public Library, Best Books of the Year
An Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Award Winner 2007

Connections

Scholastic.com – Teaching Resources June/July PreK-12
Ocean Life Activities
Computer Lab Favorites – Create a Postcard

Companion Books

Wiesner, David. Tuesday. Sandpiper. 1997. ISBN-10: 0395870828 ISBN-13: 978-0395870822

Burns, Loree Griffin. Tracking Trash: Flotsam, Jetsam, and the Science of Ocean Motion. Sandpiper.2010. ISBN-10: 10-0547328605 ISBN-13: 978-0547328607