Flotsam is a gripping
storybook by David Wiesner that tells an intriguing story entirely through
pictures. This book received the
Caldecott Medal in 2007. At first, I
wasn’t sure what to think about the book.
I was captivated by the detailed pictures, but since it had no words, I
wasn’t sure how interesting the story line of the book would be. As I journeyed through this book, I realized
that the old adage is true; a picture truly is worth a thousand words.
I liked that this book, rather than
just telling the story, allowed the reader to infer what the story was about by
examining the pictures. I think this
allowed me to use my imagination as I was reading. It also made me pay attention to each detail
on every page. I couldn’t get enough of each picture; I wanted to examine them
all until I was sure that I had seen every detail that the author included in
order to fully understand the story.
I think that being a fifth grade
teacher influenced my response to this book in many ways. I would normally skip over a book like this in
the library because of how deceptively simple it looks when you thumb through
the pages. We have such a large focus on
informative texts in fifth grade that it’s rare that I get to sit down with a
book that encompasses such imagination and creativity! It was refreshing to get lost in this story!
I learned from this book that
inferring is a skill that I need in order to truly understand any text. If I was not able to make inferences about
what was going on in each of the pictures, this book would not have had any
significant meaning for me. Looking at
my own journey of reading through this book brought me to the realization that
all students need to be able to make meaningful inferences while reading a text. Inferring will help them to understand the
important details of the text that work together to create the overall message
of the book.
Please feel free to check out the videos below to get a preview of Flotsam and to hear from David Wiesner himself!
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