Flotsam (Caldecott Medal Book): A Caldecott Award Winner

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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.

Article for the Horn Book, David Wiesner. Accessed September 4, 2019. "A guy walked into my tenth-grade art class at Bridgewater-Raritan high school New Jersey, and changed my life. Sounds like the setup for a classic punch line, but this was no joke. The guy had graduated from my school two years earlier and was now a student at some place called the Rhode Island School of Design. He said it was an art school." This is a three-week Writing Root for Flotsam by David Wiesner in which children dicsover a range of ‘Flotsam’ items (either after a visit to the seaside, or that have appeared in the classroom). One item is a camera that contains mysterious photographs that the children must investigate. These photos come from the book Flotsam by David Wiesner. Children go on to read and reflect on the book, making predictions and retelling orally and in writing. Later in the sequence of learning, the children have the opportunity to create their own sequel to the story, called Jetsam, where they write the story of the child who next finds the camera. As an optional additional study, this could also link to a study of the history of cameras and report writing about this and could include a historical link about the way cameras have changed the way history is recorded. Synopsis of Text: You’ll need several copies of the book, so that children can follow the illustrations in small groups.

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This can build into an exercise where half the class are ‘taunters’ on the beach, and half work together as the waves, ‘replying’ to them. This book is another winner, all about a child on a beach day with his parents. Other children may scream and run into the waves, but this boy has his microscope with him as he inspects the various forms of life in sand and water. Then he finds a curious looking camera, old but strange. Inside is a roll of film, so he runs to the one-hour photo place down the street and has it developed. When he eagerly gets the finished prints, he is astonished at what he finds. The camera has captured life under the waves as never seen before. This 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" 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. Wiesner’s imaginative and technical brilliance come together here . . . giving a world of details to look at and look at and wonder. Valerie Coghlan, INIS, Editor's Choice IBBY Announces Winners of 2008 Hans Christian Andersen Awards". International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY). Press release 31 March 2008.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. 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. Each question can be answered many times by different children. Share the questions and answers, discussing each picture as you go. How about visiting your nearest beach to identify and observe the wildlife? Or, you could conduct a survey of rubbish washed up by the tide, researching topics such as flotsam and beach combing.

That all changed when I moved year groups into Year Five and to my joy, discovered one of our topics was about pollution. I decided I wanted to focus on the devastating problem of plastic waste and micro plastics on our ocean ecosystems and animals. I finally had the perfect opportunity presented to me to use this stunning book and I began to get excited. How many different creatures and plants can you identify in the illustrations? Can you write a report about one (or more) of them?What might these cameras have seen on their journeys through time? Encourage children to become more imaginative in their thinking. Add to your collection of words, this time thinking of the best adjectives and similes to describe the cameras and what they represent. Working in an open space, put large sheets of paper on the floor, each with a picture on it. Children should move around the room, looking at the pictures and generating interesting questions. David Wiesner (born February 5, 1956) is an American illustrator and writer of children's books, known best for picture books including some that tell stories without words. As an illustrator he has won three Caldecott Medals recognizing the year's "most distinguished American picture book for children" [1] and he was one of five finalists in 2008 for the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award, the highest recognition available for creators of children's books. [2] Life [ edit ]