Free Fall

I was first drawn to this book because of the nicely done watercolor illustrations. However, Free Fall is so much more than that! It's a whimsical, unique, riotous ride- through the eyes of a child. Perhaps the most striking element is David Weisner's ability to comunicate such a tale only through his illustrations, without the use of words. This factor allowed me to give the book to children who are illiterate or who don't speak English.

I found this book in a pretty unexpected way. At work, I as putting together a team of people to take on a new problem. None of the members knew each other well and they all knew me even less. I had read once about an ice breaker activity where each person is given a page of a picture book that they can't show to anyone. The objective is for each participant to talk one-on-one about the page they have, figure out what the pictures are supposed to convey and what order they go in. That started me searching the world of wordless picture books. Once I found this book, I knew I had something great. It doesn't feel like a standard children's story. As others have described, the book begins with a boy falling asleep reading an atlas. As you drift across the pages, you fall into the boy's dreamscape transitioning from one adventurous world after another. As you explore each page, you lose yourself in the gorgeous scenery and are captured by the detail the illustrator poured into in this boy's dream. Adults will love it. My boy, age 7, enjoyed it. This was definitely different from anything else we've read together. We talked about everything that we saw and what was happening. This was a very different experience from the straight-forward bedtime story. He read it a few times by himself and it was great that he was able to read something with so much wonderful detail. If you find yourself reciting your bedtime stories to your kids while your mind drifts off to making your grocery list this is a great change. I've since picked up "Sector 7" and "Tuesday" which are also beautifully illustrated but "Freefall" can't be beat for capturing your imagination and taking you on a wonderful ride. By the way, the ice breaker worked out pretty well too. What a nice way to turn adults back into kids again for a few hours.

Free Fall is a series of wonderful illustrations of apparently unrelated imaginary worlds seamlessly stitched together by familiar textures. As with other books by David Wiesner, the closer you look the more you will appreciate his work. Warning: This is not a traditional story. Young children probably will need your help to follow along.If you appreciate creativity, imagination and quality illustration and want to pass this on to your children this book is a must have.

"Free Fall" by David Wiesner is a wordless book about imagination. It begins with a boy who is escorted through a very imaginative dream. Throughout the book, the illustrations change subtly to form new scenarios as the dream continues. Eventually, the boy wakes up only to realize that a map and his own toys are the items that initiated his dream. "Free Fall" is a wonderfully illustrated book. It contains very clear illustrations with quite a bit of detail. Because the theme focuses on imagination, many of the illustrations are out of the ordinary and are abstract. However, the same concept is persistent throughout the book providing continuity for the reader. "Free Fall" will provide children of different ages the opportunity to explore their own imagination. It will also give children the opportunity to develop their vocabulary as they describe what each page means to them. However, some younger children might not be able to understand the complete meaning contained within the book. Furthermore, they might not have the vocabulary to describe all that they see. In spite of this, most children will truly enjoy this book. I do recommend it highly to any home or classroom.

This Caldecott Honor winner captivates young children with its entrancing illustrations of a boy's journey through a fantasy dreamland. Since there is no text, children (and adults) are free to make up the story to fit the illustrations in any way they see fit. Another wonderful wordless book by Wiesner is Tuesday