Flotsam

When I first found this book, I really wasn't sure what it was going to be about. I had never heard of the word "flotsam," or atleast I didn't think I had. After looking it up online, I remembered I had heard of flotsam and jetsam, and that flotsam was material found floating in the ocean. Flotsam by David Wiesner was a Caldecott Medal winner, so I thought it must be good. I was surprised when I opened the book to read and there were NO words. It was all pictures, like a graphic novel. Very interesting...I found that as I was "reading" (a.k.a. looking at the pictures) I had a tendency to make up my own words to go along with what was happening, which I thought was kind of neat and probably what Wiesner intended for children who read the book as well. The illustrations were gorgeous and very creative. It's easy to see how children could get swept away by their imaginations while in the company of this book. I thoroughly enjoyed it.