Tuesday by David Wiesner

 

Module 2 - Tuesday by David Wiesner

Wiesner, D., Egolf, R. L., Clarion Books, & Dr. Robert L. Egolf Collection. (1991). Tuesday. New York: Clarion Books. 


1992 Caldecot Medal Winner
32 fully illustrated pages
Ages 4-8

Plot:

One Tuesday evening, around eight, strange things begin to happen. An entire pond full of frog's begin to levitate on their lillypads, and hovering above the city, they take flight across the town startling all the animals and townspeople they pass. Then abruptly, as morning dawns they all drop back down to the ground and resume their normal pond life. The town wakes up, startled by the remains of the night's antics, they investigate. The following Tuesday night, again around eight, a mysterious occurrence again begins: a whole barn-full of pigs take flight!

My Impressions:

I didn't know what to expect from this book when I first picked it up, but I knew I was attracted to the cover art, which I found to be immersive and captivating. I also found the triptic on the title page of the book to be a great way to introduce the book, both artistically as well as to the contents of the story.I loved that the book relied so heavily on its artwork, using text only to introduce the date and time of the events, and even then very vaguely. This book captivates the power of imagination and the extraordinary events that take place in this sometimes monotinous world we live in. I expect children quite enjoy this book for its sense of wonder even in the telling of such a simple story. I know I did.

Reviews: 

"If this wordless book has any kind of message besides "flying is fun," it may be "beware jadedness." Our last frog image is of one particularly grumpy frog, tapping his frog fingers on his lily pad and looking resentfully toward the sky. As in, "Yeah. But what have you done for me today?" But don't get me wrong; it's all in good fun...splendid fun, actually. Tuesday offers the hope that magic may just be around the next corner."

Partial excerpt from:
Barancik, Steve. (n.d). Tuesday by david wiesner. Best Children's Books Website. Retrieved at: http://www.best-childrens-books.com/tuesday-wiesner.html.


"David Wiesner’s Caldecott award- wining book Tuesday is a wordless picture book about the
mischievous adventures of a clan of frogs on a late Tuesday night. Their adventures take them
through a local human town as they interact with it on a human level. Through his skillful
artistic ability with action pictures and detail, Wiesner creates a realistic human setting
inhabited by frogs. Weisner’s evident ability stimulates the reader’s imagination.
The skillfully crafted pictures make it easy to imagine that the frogs could have human
characteristics. The frogs are not depicted in their normal setting, but the pictures help the
reader see how much the frogs are enjoying themselves in this strange new world....Tuesday is skillfully crafted to elicit different emotions in the reader, stimulate curiosity,
personify the frogs, and tell a fantastically imaginative story. Wiesner’s story captures the
reader’s complete attention without words by showing each animal’s human like characteristics."

Partial excerpt from:
Aragon, Stacie. (1999). When pigs fly. Children's Book and Play Review. Fall 1999 Issue. Retrieved at: http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/u?/CBPR,1828.

Library Suggestions:

As this book is highly detailed in its images, use it to teach close examinations. Ask children to find clues that suggest what time of day it is throughout the book or in the image where the town wakes up and begins to investigate the remains, have them find what types of clues or evidence the frogs left behind.