Where did David Wiesner originate from?
· David Wiesner was born on February 5, 1956 in Bridgewater, New Jersey.
· He attended college at Rhode Island School of Design.
· In 1983 he married his wife, Kim Kahng, who he also co-authored his book Loathsome Dragon with.
· Now, the couple lives in Philadelphia with their children.
What kind of work does Wiesner do?
· Wiesner is an Author/Illustrator who is known around the world for his wordless picture books. His career started in 1981 by illustrating books for other authors; however, by 1987 he was the Author/Illustrator of his own books.
Has he received any major honors?
· David Wiesner has won the Caldecott Honor Medal, given out each year by the Association for Library Service to Children to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children, three times. He first won the Caldecott in 1992 for his book Tuesday, in which frogs fly around town on their lily pads! His next medal came ten years later with his book The Three Pigs. This book is a play on The Three Little Pigs with a huge twist, where the pigs actually escape from the story! Finally, his most recent Medal winner came in 2007 with his story Flotsam. Along with his three Caldecott award winners, Wiesner also had two books land on the Caldecott honor list.
What does Wiesner think?
· "My books need readers. The beauty of visual storytelling is how interactive my books become. When I create picture books, it isn't just my author's voice telling the story; each reader reads the book in his or her own way. And so there are limitless possibilities within each book—and the stories that emerge belong as much to the reader as they do to me.” (Houghton Miffin)
Famous Books Wiesner has written:
· Free fall
· Hurricane
· June29, 1999
· The Loathsome Dragon
· Moo!
· Sector 7
· Tuesday
· The Three Pigs
· Flotsam
My Opinion:
Through all the reading I did researching David Wiesner I never found any articles or quotes of people who have a problem with any of the work he has done. Likewise, I never found anything stating any controversies over his work. Wiesner’s books are cool because they allow you to let your imagination flow with what is happening in the story. Although his pictures make the story what it is, you are allowed the privilege of making up your own dialogue to accompany the amazing artwork. My favorite book of Wiesner’s is Tuesday, because it allows you to do just that. There are very minimal words in the book, the words that are shown basically just tell you the time of night. Other than what time it is, Wiesner leaves it completely up to you to use your imagination with what is going on in the book. Many people think that Wiesner’s imagination stems from his childhood. It says on his publisher’s web page that the last thing he saw when he went to bed at night were images of elephants, rocket ships, and books that filled the wall paper all around him. Many attribute these things to his imagination that he shows now in adulthood through his illustrations.
Bibliography
ALSC. "Caldecott Medal Home Page." 2010. Association for Library Service to Children. 11 September 2010 <http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/caldecottmedal/caldecottmedal.cfm>.
This website was used to find the exact definition of the Caldecott award. The material used from this site is trusted to be accurate because it came from the official site of the Association for Library Service to Children. The Association for Library Service to Children is the foundation that actually awards illustrators the Caldecott medal.
Books, Houghton Miffin. "The Origin of a Wordless Author." 2010. Houghtom Miffin Books. Saturday January 2010 <http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/authors/wiesner/bio/bio.shtml>.
This website was used a lot during my research because of the accurate information that it contained. Like the Association for Library Service to Children page, this was the official webpage for the Houghton Miffin publishing company, so it is very reliable information. I used this site to find the quote from Wiesner himself, as well as find a biography about him.
comminfo.rutgers.edu. "David Wiesner." David Wiesner. 11 September 2010 <http://comminfo.rutgers.edu/professional-development/childlit/wiesner.html>.
This last site was used to find the list of all the different works that David Wiesner has done. It seems to be a research website started at Rutgers University and this page in particular was dedicated to Wiesner. The webpage is cited to other sites where they found their information so I think that material here is probably pretty accurate. It also matches up with the information that I got from Houghton Miffin.
Link to Publisher’s Website:
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