Module 3 – Tuesday

image from www.amazon.com

Wiesner, D. (1991). Tuesday. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Summary –

In this nearly wordless Caldecott award-winning book, frogs take flight one Tuesday evening, floating over the swamp and into town.  Their flight startles the fish and turtles in their swamp, and the birds and dogs in town.  While the inhabitants of the town sleep, the flogs fly into houses to watch late-night TV and soar through the hanging sheets on the clotheslines.  As dawn approaches, the frogs return home, leaving the town police a weird set of clues to try to understand.  The following Tuesday, it’s the pigs’ turn to fly!

Lucien’s thoughts –

This is definitely a weird and wonderful little book. The powerful illustrations drive the whimsical story.  Without a single explanation as to why the frogs are flying, the book captures the excitement as the frogs take flight and explore the nocturnal environs of a small sub-urban town.  The story is humorous and the watercolors are drawn in a near-realistic style, which is a fun disjuncture from the fantastical story being told.  The images clearly capture all the small details: turtles on logs, the back of a television, the police and ambulance vehicles on the scene the following morning.  This books just invites rereading to view all the little details in the backgrounds of the images.

Librarian’s use –

This book’s lack of words invites the reader to fill in with their imagination.  A book like this can be great for pre-readers, since it doesn’t have words to trip them up.  Young audience members can be asked to try to provide a narration of the images in their own words. One activity that is perfect for wordless books like this one is to make photocopies of the pictures into a book that has space at the bottom. Readers can then be invited to write down their narrative to go along with the pictures.  Each audience maker thus becomes co-author of his or her own version of Tuesday.  Different co-authored books can then be compared one to another to see what details the “author” focused on and what details are different.

Other reviews –

Cassady, J. (1998). Wordless books: No-risk tools for inclusive middle-grade classrooms. Journal of adolescent and adult literacy, 41 (6), 428-432.

Wiesner commented in an interview (Caroff & Mole, 1992) that he has received numerous letters from students in drama classes, English as a Second Language classes, and creative writing classes who have used his wordless picture book, Tuesday. Wiesner identifies one of the most valuable characteristics of wordless books-the endless possibilities for creative interpretations… The use of wordless books can encourage reluctant and struggling readers in middle school and junior high to read, develop vocabulary, and make the connection between written and spoken language. Older readers seem to respond to wordless books because they are so visually appealing and because they often involve cleverly developed plots.

Silvey, A. (2002). David Wiesner. The horn book magazine, 78 (4), 401-405.

In an age obsessed with marketing, David allows his books to do the talking. Although he proves a charming guest at a conference, library, or bookstore, he travels infrequently to make public appearances. Because his energy, time, and talent go into creating books, each book becomes stronger, and readers react to its inherent qualities rather than the publicity about it. Although this course of action generally produces fewer initial sales, in the long run only the book and the way children respond to the book matter. David never forgets what truly matters.

Pinkney, J. (2012). My favorite Caldecott. The horn book magazine, 88 (4), 18.

David Weisner’s command of watercolor in Tuesday (1992) is masterful and his visual storytelling is flawless.

Dooley, P. (1991) Tuesday (Book). School library journal, 35 (5), 86.

Dominated by rich blues and greens, and fully exploiting its varied perspectives, this book treats its readers to the pleasures of airborne adventure. It may not be immortal, but kids will love its lighthearted, meticulously imagined, fun-without-amoral fantasy. Tuesday is bound to take off.