FLOTSAM by David Wiesner

Wiesner is a master of storytelling with detailed and fanciful images.  His wordless picture book, Flotsam, is a nautical visual delight.  The images tell a story that begins with a young boy spending the day at the beach.  A rogue wave tumbles the boy and washes an old underwater camera ashore. The boy brings the film from the camera to be developed and discovers a world of mechanical fish, reading octopods, giant starfish, aliens, and blowfish hot air balloons.  Wiesner couples detailed images with telescopic and microscopic vantage points. Readers that appreciate tinker science will be attracted to the meticulous accuracy in the images of aquatic creatures as well as the use of a microscope, antique camera, and magnifying glass. Wiesner brings us from the scientific to the fantastic as he weaves magical and fantasy elements in a world where a fish's eye can become a realistic convex mirror evoking the realistic absurdity in an M. C. Escher drawing. In an imaginative plot twist, the boy discovers a series of self-portraits with children around the world posing with the photos. Wiesner takes us on a maritime adventure that will engage “readers” both young and old.  While the wordlessness will encourage language learners to develop visual literacy, the story is nuanced and complex enough to allow for a pleasurable read for all ages and can be used effectively to breach language barriers.

(wordless picture book, fiction, age 6-11)