Customer Reviews

Free Fall

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Free Fall By: David Wiesner David Wiesner sends the reader on a magical journey through a young boy's dream to a far off land in his creative picture book titled, Free Fall. He does this by using only detailed pictures. Free Fall is an Caldecott honor award winning book for its excellent use of the imagination. Free Fall begins with a young boy fast asleep with a storybook lying open on his chest. The boy begins to dream while the pages of the book start to fly and take life. He becomes a character in the book as the chess pieces begin to talk with him. He then goes through many exciting adventures during the course of the book. He protects the town from a frightening dragon, becomes an oversized boy towering above all, and even becomes so small that he can fly on a single leaf. He flies right next to the swans just above the waters, and then he...wakes to the daylight shining through his window. He sits up, looks at his fish bowl beside his bed, and admires the seagulls at his windowpane with a smile on his face. David Wiesner uses fantasy and adventure to give a child an unlimited imagination in his book, Free Fall. The title page automatically sets the reader up for a fulfilled magical ride. The title page looks like a map made out of the boy's bed sheet to give the reader a sense of where the story will take us. The first page of the book lets the reader know that the boy fell asleep while reading a book. Then the reader turns the page, and night suddenly turns into day from one page to the next. The boy's room starts to disappear into rolling open fields with mountains towering in the background through clouds. The boy becomes as small as a chess piece, and starts to have conversations with the other pieces. On the next page, the chess pieces turn into a beautiful life-size castle, and the people have shrunk to a smaller size. Then, a dragon appears, and the boy is left to protect the people using only a sword and shield. As the reader turns the page, the pages of the young boy's storybook begin to turn also, while characters in his book suddenly jump into his dream. The reader can see the people coming out of the pages. The boy then grows vast, soaring over all. He takes adventures though the mountains, as well as takes flight though the air. He flies along with the swans until the waters subtly turns back into his bed sheets. A foggy haze once again appears, and the boy is awakened by the light of the morning. Wiesner takes the reader, the child, on an adventure though another child's dream. The colors of the pictures are subtle and dull, so that it reflects that of a hazy dream-like state. The picture book is put together very well as the pages slowly drift into the next scene of the boy's thoughts. For example, the boy's bed sheets blend into rolling hills, the hills fade into a chessboard, and the pieces convert into the towers of a castle. The pages of the book turn gradually into steps, and then transform into sides of buildings. The mountains then turn into bread as the boy's bed sheet reappears as a tablecloth. The tablecloth suddenly transforms into rough waters, as the food breaks into pieces forming into fish. As daylight breaks through, the waters turn into the boy's bed sheets once again. The transformation of the bed sheet into so many different items may relate to what a child can imagine a bed sheet to become. The uses of objects, such as the boy's bed sheet, for more then one purpose is a great way to express an exploring, creative mind, such as the young boy's in the book Wiesner's Free Fall, creates an adventure for the child through the great usage of imagination. This allows the child to not only enjoy the book, but also relate to the book. The child learns that bedtime, an often unpopular time, can open up a world of excitement for them.

"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.

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.

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

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.

Have your children investigate every page carefully- this book encourages self-awareness and promotes the exploration of the subconscious

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've decided that this year I'll read more wordless picture books with my nieces. And I've started this very week!

Free Fall is not my favorite of the genre. Because it takes place in a boy's dream it's all a little weird, with farms turning into chess boards and leaves turning into birds. There's not much of a story because - hello, dream!

However, it's not all about me. My niece (5) thought it was fascinating, although I'm doubtful that she really understood what's going on. Still, it's good for kids to not get what's going on. Forces them to stretch their minds a little.

I only recently learned of David Wiesner's books, and so far this is my favorite. The art, which owes a large debt to Escher, is beautiful. The process of following the dream logic is an expression of the goals of Surrealism. This book works on different levels for different ages, and often differently for the same person at different times.

If you have children under 7 and do not have any of David Wiesner's books, you're missing a wonderful opportunity to share both art and imagination with your children. David Wiesner tells wonderful, deep and imaginative stories with just his pictures. Words can hardly do his wordless books justice. Freefall is wonderful and both my children love the story, both told by a parent or on their own. I also highly recommend FLOTSAM (my kids favorite - mine too!).