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Free Fall
When he falls asleep with a book in his arms, a young boy dreams an amazing dream—about dragons, about castles, and about an unchartered, faraway land. And you can come along.
32 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1991
8 people are currently reading
1123 people want to read
About the author
David Wiesner
93 books620 followersDuring David Wiesner's formative years, the last images he saw before closing his eyes at night were the books, rockets, elephant heads, clocks, and magnifying glasses that decorated the wallpaper of his room. Perhaps it was this decor which awakened his creativity and gave it the dreamlike, imaginative quality so often found in his work.
As a child growing up in suburban New Jersey, Wiesner re-created his world daily in his imagination. His home and his neighborhood became anything from a faraway planet to a prehistoric jungle. When the everyday play stopped, he would follow his imaginary playmates into the pages of books, wandering among dinosaurs in the World Book Encyclopedia. The images before him generated a love of detail, an admiration for the creative process, and a curiosity about the hand behind the drawings.
In time, the young Wiesner began exploring the history of art, delving into the Renaissance at first — Michelangelo, Dürer, and da Vinci — then moving on to such surrealists as Magritte, de Chirico, and Dalí. As he got older, he would sit, inspired by these masters, at the oak drafting table his father had found for him and would construct new worlds on paper and create wordless comic books, such as Slop the Wonder Pig, and silent movies, like his kung fu vampire film The Saga of Butchula.
Wiesner has always been intrigued by and curious about what comes before and after the captured image. His books somehow convey the sequence of thoughts leading up to and following each picture, and that quality explain why they are frequently described as cinematic.
At the Rhode Island School of Design, Wiesner was able to commit himself to the full-time study of art and to explore further his passion for wordless storytelling. There he met two people who would figure prominently in his life: Tom Sgouros, to whom Tuesday is dedicated, and David Macaulay, to whom The Three Pigs is dedicated. These two men not only taught Wiesner the fundamentals of drawing and painting but also fostered his imaginative spirit and helped him comprehend the world around him. Sgouros's and Macaulay's artistic influences were vital to Wiesner's development into the acclaimed picture-book author he is today.
David Wiesner has illustrated more than twenty award-winning books for young readers. Two of the picture books he both wrote and illustrated became instant classics when they won the prestigious Caldecott Medal: Tuesday in 1992 and The Three Pigs in 2002. Two of his other titles, Sector 7 and Free Fall, are Caldecott Honor Books. An exhibit of Wiesner's original artwork, "Seeing the Story," toured the United States in 2000 and 2001. Among his many honors, Wiesner holds the Japan Picture Book Award for Tuesday, the Prix Sorcières (the French equivalent of the Caldecott Medal) for The Three Pigs, and a 2004 IBBY Honour Book nomination for illustration, also for The Three Pigs. Flotsam, his most recent work, was a New York Times bestseller and was recently named winner of the 2007 Caldecott Medal, making Wiesner only the second person in the award’s long history to have won three times.
Wiesner lives with his wife and their son and daughter in the Philadelphia area, where he continues to create dreamlike and inventive images for books.
As a child growing up in suburban New Jersey, Wiesner re-created his world daily in his imagination. His home and his neighborhood became anything from a faraway planet to a prehistoric jungle. When the everyday play stopped, he would follow his imaginary playmates into the pages of books, wandering among dinosaurs in the World Book Encyclopedia. The images before him generated a love of detail, an admiration for the creative process, and a curiosity about the hand behind the drawings.
In time, the young Wiesner began exploring the history of art, delving into the Renaissance at first — Michelangelo, Dürer, and da Vinci — then moving on to such surrealists as Magritte, de Chirico, and Dalí. As he got older, he would sit, inspired by these masters, at the oak drafting table his father had found for him and would construct new worlds on paper and create wordless comic books, such as Slop the Wonder Pig, and silent movies, like his kung fu vampire film The Saga of Butchula.
Wiesner has always been intrigued by and curious about what comes before and after the captured image. His books somehow convey the sequence of thoughts leading up to and following each picture, and that quality explain why they are frequently described as cinematic.
At the Rhode Island School of Design, Wiesner was able to commit himself to the full-time study of art and to explore further his passion for wordless storytelling. There he met two people who would figure prominently in his life: Tom Sgouros, to whom Tuesday is dedicated, and David Macaulay, to whom The Three Pigs is dedicated. These two men not only taught Wiesner the fundamentals of drawing and painting but also fostered his imaginative spirit and helped him comprehend the world around him. Sgouros's and Macaulay's artistic influences were vital to Wiesner's development into the acclaimed picture-book author he is today.
David Wiesner has illustrated more than twenty award-winning books for young readers. Two of the picture books he both wrote and illustrated became instant classics when they won the prestigious Caldecott Medal: Tuesday in 1992 and The Three Pigs in 2002. Two of his other titles, Sector 7 and Free Fall, are Caldecott Honor Books. An exhibit of Wiesner's original artwork, "Seeing the Story," toured the United States in 2000 and 2001. Among his many honors, Wiesner holds the Japan Picture Book Award for Tuesday, the Prix Sorcières (the French equivalent of the Caldecott Medal) for The Three Pigs, and a 2004 IBBY Honour Book nomination for illustration, also for The Three Pigs. Flotsam, his most recent work, was a New York Times bestseller and was recently named winner of the 2007 Caldecott Medal, making Wiesner only the second person in the award’s long history to have won three times.
Wiesner lives with his wife and their son and daughter in the Philadelphia area, where he continues to create dreamlike and inventive images for books.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 302 reviews
May 24, 2017
To see Wednesday's Wordless Picture Books, please visit www.readrantrockandroll.com
In Free Fall, a boy falls asleep with his book in his hands. He begins to dream about a faraway adventure while discovering new people, places, castles, creatures, and objects. As his dream begins to end, he’s quickly transported back to the safety of his room.
The illustrations are so detailed. The author created a very imaginative story for children to enjoy. At times it reminded me of Gulliver’s Travels. If you really look hard, you’ll see that the original map from the book he’s holding can be found somewhere on every page.
This is an older picture book from 1988, but it stays at the top of our favorites for 2017.
In Free Fall, a boy falls asleep with his book in his hands. He begins to dream about a faraway adventure while discovering new people, places, castles, creatures, and objects. As his dream begins to end, he’s quickly transported back to the safety of his room.
The illustrations are so detailed. The author created a very imaginative story for children to enjoy. At times it reminded me of Gulliver’s Travels. If you really look hard, you’ll see that the original map from the book he’s holding can be found somewhere on every page.
This is an older picture book from 1988, but it stays at the top of our favorites for 2017.
March 3, 2019
This is not really a story, but an exploration of someones dream. It is a wordless book so my nephew loved it and he came up with quite a story. We always let the nephew tell us the story with a wordless book as he can read it. He comes up with out-there stories, but they are funny and exciting and they don’t always relate to the material.
The artwork is very dreamlike here, of course. What I love about this is how one thing flows and melts into another thing or scene. The checkered bedspread becomes a landscape as you would see from an airplane. The landscape becomes a checkerboard with talking pieces which become a castle. I mean the associations David is making are brilliant. I love how the trees are also the opposite of the spine of a book. It’s the pages part. It’s fantastic.
David is brilliant and man, he put some work into this. I think it’s fabulous. It’s not my favorite as I don’t think it’s as coherent as some of his other stories, but it’s still wonderful. I would love to own this. I haven’t seen a David book I did not like of his thus far. I’m working through his catalog.
The nephew gave this 5 stars and the niece gave it 3 stars. She wanted more of a story and she thought the artwork was special, she didn’t see the point of it.
The artwork is very dreamlike here, of course. What I love about this is how one thing flows and melts into another thing or scene. The checkered bedspread becomes a landscape as you would see from an airplane. The landscape becomes a checkerboard with talking pieces which become a castle. I mean the associations David is making are brilliant. I love how the trees are also the opposite of the spine of a book. It’s the pages part. It’s fantastic.
David is brilliant and man, he put some work into this. I think it’s fabulous. It’s not my favorite as I don’t think it’s as coherent as some of his other stories, but it’s still wonderful. I would love to own this. I haven’t seen a David book I did not like of his thus far. I’m working through his catalog.
The nephew gave this 5 stars and the niece gave it 3 stars. She wanted more of a story and she thought the artwork was special, she didn’t see the point of it.
July 25, 2018
An early (1988) wordless picture book by Wiesner about a boy falling asleep reading. The stories he reads generate his "free falling" dreams, which are colorfully and dreamily illustrated but unremarkable compared to some of his later work.
February 27, 2018
Although I can and ALWAYS do manage to at least appreciate David Wiesner's colourfully bold, lushly descriptive illustrations, more often than not, their rich (and usually primarily wordless) details are simply too overly elaborate, read aesthetically too busy and thus potentially confusing to fully enjoy (maybe not for those visually inclined individuals who are primarily image-oriented, but definitely for someone like me, who although generally extensively visual, is also almost slavishly textual, and therefore often tends to find an overabundance of images, of illustrated depictions without an accompanying narrative potentially distracting and perplexing). And this is precisely my main problem, my main point of frustrating annoyance with Free Fall, namely that while the presented images, while David Wiesner's illustrations are indeed spectacular, their intensiveness, their lushness and that there is NO narrative whatsoever, make it very hard (and sometimes even nigh impossible) for me to follow, let alone satisfactorily comprehend the presented and wordless storyline (and yes, I do indeed and well realise that Free Fall is meant to be wordless, but personally, I really would and do require at least some accompanying text to fully and pleasurably fathom and comprehend illustrations, pictorial offerings that intensely detailed and busy). Still highly recommended to and for fans of David Wiesner, just not all that much my proverbial cup of tea (and thus, on a personal and reading enjoyment level, only two stars for Free Fall, the book's 1989 Caldecott Honour accolades quite notwithstanding)!
And finally, it is also a sad and actually majorly frustrating shortcoming that the paperback editions of Free Fall do not contain the accompanying verses that supposedly appear on the side flaps of the original hardcover editions (on the so-called dust cover flaps). After now having had the chance to peruse this poem in the Children's Literature Group discussion on Free Fall (thanks Jenny), I do know that I personally would have both enjoyed and yes, also understood David Wiesner's wordless picture sequences much better and more readily, had my paperback copy of Free Fall also contained the former (truly truly disappointing, and I have to wonder with more than a bit of consternation at the reasons WHY this in my opinion essential explanatory poem was not transferred and included).
And finally, it is also a sad and actually majorly frustrating shortcoming that the paperback editions of Free Fall do not contain the accompanying verses that supposedly appear on the side flaps of the original hardcover editions (on the so-called dust cover flaps). After now having had the chance to peruse this poem in the Children's Literature Group discussion on Free Fall (thanks Jenny), I do know that I personally would have both enjoyed and yes, also understood David Wiesner's wordless picture sequences much better and more readily, had my paperback copy of Free Fall also contained the former (truly truly disappointing, and I have to wonder with more than a bit of consternation at the reasons WHY this in my opinion essential explanatory poem was not transferred and included).
June 29, 2018
Another beautiful story without words, perfect for older children to use as a base for many creative writing projects.
February 25, 2008
I read his book Flotsam before I read this one. In fact, I read this one becaue of Flotsam. This one is really amazing as it contains no words at all; Flotsam has very few words and the pictures do tell the story in that book as well. I liked the story and beautiful paintings in Flotsam even more than I did in this earlier published book. But this one is another winner. Even pre-readers can “read” it by themselves. Fun and imaginative.
September 16, 2011
What a book! Free Fall is a picture book which tells the story of a boy who falls asleep after looking at an atlas and has the most in depth, mythical dream. Without one written word this book is fantastical and quite extraordinary. Snap shots from the book include the boy meeting chess pieces to him becoming a giant but with the most intriguing background scenes including mazes, forests and an oversized library.
I think this book could be used with upper KS1 children of all abilities in particular for En1 1b from the National Curriculum which is Speaking and Listening to ‘gain and maintain the interest and response of different audiences’.
I could specify a page of the book and ask the children, in groups, to spend time discussing it (orally rehearsing) and then ask each group to present to the whole class ensuring that all children input. I would extend this learning by asking the children to write about what they discussed and presented. For EAL children I would hope to be able to put them in a group with another more confident English speaking child who shared the child's home language. I would like to get peer assistance with enabling the child to learn English.
David Wiesner has won The Caldecott Medal twice which was named in honour of nineteenth-century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott. It is awarded annually to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children.
I think this book could be used with upper KS1 children of all abilities in particular for En1 1b from the National Curriculum which is Speaking and Listening to ‘gain and maintain the interest and response of different audiences’.
I could specify a page of the book and ask the children, in groups, to spend time discussing it (orally rehearsing) and then ask each group to present to the whole class ensuring that all children input. I would extend this learning by asking the children to write about what they discussed and presented. For EAL children I would hope to be able to put them in a group with another more confident English speaking child who shared the child's home language. I would like to get peer assistance with enabling the child to learn English.
David Wiesner has won The Caldecott Medal twice which was named in honour of nineteenth-century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott. It is awarded annually to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children.
June 19, 2021
2021 June 16
This is part of my 365 Kids Books challenge. For an explanation see my review for 101 Amazing Facts about Australia You can see all the books on their own shelf. Thanks to the marvelous people @chpublib and @ocplibraries who are keeping me supplied with all the Wiesner books.
More Wiesner!
As noted before I think, I really like when Wiesner just lets the illustrations stand on their own. I read somewhere that he created a nine-foot long painting while in art school. Of course he did.
The only thing I don't love about this book is that it is actually a book. I mean, I want it to be a frieze going around in a closed circle, the way I also want to see The Nursery Frieze. I like the way everything changes size and turns into something else, and the more I look at it, the more details I notice. Mentally it's all "oh, cool!" with each turn of the page.
***
2009 March 31
This is so much fun to examine closely. And I like the Escher references.
Library copy
This is part of my 365 Kids Books challenge. For an explanation see my review for 101 Amazing Facts about Australia You can see all the books on their own shelf. Thanks to the marvelous people @chpublib and @ocplibraries who are keeping me supplied with all the Wiesner books.
More Wiesner!
As noted before I think, I really like when Wiesner just lets the illustrations stand on their own. I read somewhere that he created a nine-foot long painting while in art school. Of course he did.
The only thing I don't love about this book is that it is actually a book. I mean, I want it to be a frieze going around in a closed circle, the way I also want to see The Nursery Frieze. I like the way everything changes size and turns into something else, and the more I look at it, the more details I notice. Mentally it's all "oh, cool!" with each turn of the page.
***
2009 March 31
This is so much fun to examine closely. And I like the Escher references.
Library copy
May 20, 2016
3.5 out of 5
The blurb/poem on the front flap of the cover describes this wordless picturebook perfectly:
"In the silence
of a dream
our adventures move
in seamless progression
as we conquer
our dragon,
explore
uncharted lands,
climb
on the highest pinnacle,
and float
free
descending
in a sudden
free fall
to the new day."
The blurb/poem on the front flap of the cover describes this wordless picturebook perfectly:
"In the silence
of a dream
our adventures move
in seamless progression
as we conquer
our dragon,
explore
uncharted lands,
climb
on the highest pinnacle,
and float
free
descending
in a sudden
free fall
to the new day."
February 13, 2010
This wordless picture book has won the Caldecott Honor in 1989 and is intended for children in third-fifth grade. This story is about a boy who falls asleep with an atlas in his arms. He then has a dream where his bedspread turns into an aerial view of the earth. On his journey, he plays chess on an enormous chess board complete with mortal playing pieces. This medieval welcoming party leads the boy to a castle with dragons where he continues his search for an elusive map.
This story is imaginative, yet confusing at times as the reader is taken on a magical journey. With the help of the pictures, and the use of imagination, the reader experiences the story of a boy who experiences many adventures after entering a faraway land. The illustrations are beautiful and add to the action of the story as shades of green, blue, and yellow dominate the illustrations. Double-page watercolor spreads and architectural details really make the reader feel a part of the story. However, this book does not have enough sequence and logic to be understood by young children, which is why this book is best suited for imaginative and older elementary students. Again, this wordless picture book would be best used in writers’ workshop when having students write their own story in response to the illustrations. Wordless picture books like these require students to use a combination of their imagination and the pictures in order to understand the story.
This story is imaginative, yet confusing at times as the reader is taken on a magical journey. With the help of the pictures, and the use of imagination, the reader experiences the story of a boy who experiences many adventures after entering a faraway land. The illustrations are beautiful and add to the action of the story as shades of green, blue, and yellow dominate the illustrations. Double-page watercolor spreads and architectural details really make the reader feel a part of the story. However, this book does not have enough sequence and logic to be understood by young children, which is why this book is best suited for imaginative and older elementary students. Again, this wordless picture book would be best used in writers’ workshop when having students write their own story in response to the illustrations. Wordless picture books like these require students to use a combination of their imagination and the pictures in order to understand the story.
May 26, 2024
So cute and very like a dream! I love how the pictures shift and change even inside the same illustration. Makes me want to make a picture book. :D
August 7, 2016
Did not anyone else find Free Fall rather more like a nightmare than a fun adventure? Changing sizes at random, without even a bottle labeled "Drink Me," shaking hands with a knight who turned out to be a flock of doves in a suit of armor, meeting swans in a seascape that resembled the sky of Escher's geese.... I guess, judging by the details of context in the boy's bedroom, he is the adventurous type, but I don't think I'd like to have his dreams!
I also can't help but be reminded of:
The Land of Counterpane
Robert Louis Stevenson, 1850 - 1894
When I was sick and lay a-bed,
I had two pillows at my head,
And all my toys beside me lay
To keep me happy all the day.
And sometimes for an hour or so
I watched my leaden soldiers go,
With different uniforms and drills,
Among the bed-clothes, through the hills;
And sometimes sent my ships in fleets
All up and down among the sheets;
Or brought my trees and houses out,
And planted cities all about.
I was the giant great and still
That sits upon the pillow-hill,
And sees before him, dale and plain,
The pleasant land of counterpane.
Now, there is a poem included on the jacket of some editions of the book.
A friend in the discussion in the Children's Books typed it out for us:
In the silence
of a dream
our adventures move
in seamless progression
as we conquer
our dragon,
explore
uncharted lands,
climb
to the highest pinnacle,
and float
free
descending
in a sudden
free fall
to the new day.
I also can't help but be reminded of:
The Land of Counterpane
Robert Louis Stevenson, 1850 - 1894
When I was sick and lay a-bed,
I had two pillows at my head,
And all my toys beside me lay
To keep me happy all the day.
And sometimes for an hour or so
I watched my leaden soldiers go,
With different uniforms and drills,
Among the bed-clothes, through the hills;
And sometimes sent my ships in fleets
All up and down among the sheets;
Or brought my trees and houses out,
And planted cities all about.
I was the giant great and still
That sits upon the pillow-hill,
And sees before him, dale and plain,
The pleasant land of counterpane.
Now, there is a poem included on the jacket of some editions of the book.
A friend in the discussion in the Children's Books typed it out for us:
In the silence
of a dream
our adventures move
in seamless progression
as we conquer
our dragon,
explore
uncharted lands,
climb
to the highest pinnacle,
and float
free
descending
in a sudden
free fall
to the new day.
September 21, 2011
I was surprised that I disliked a Caldecott. The cover has a boy on a brown leaf flying over a stream. Inside the book you see the boy asleep with an atlas open on top of him. This is a wordless book. The atlas page becomes checkerboard land which becomes a chess set which becomes a royal village (and then with a forest growing through it). Maybe it was the lack of words, but I found this book too unpredictable and helter skelter for me. e.g., the drinking glass knocked on its side in one of the illustrations. It all kind of makes sense when the little boy wakes up and you see what’s in his room, but the pictures are too unsettling for me with the angles off kilter. I felt uncomfortable reading this book.
December 19, 2011
A boy falls asleep while reading and is taken on a magical, mythical, map-filled adventure to a number of different worlds before a flock of swans and fish bring home to his bed.
Wiesner is the King of Wordless Picture Books.
Wiesner is the King of Wordless Picture Books.
September 25, 2013
Free Fall is a whimsical wordless picture book illustrated by David Wiesner.
As I delved into this book, I noticed that the perspective was constantly being shifted. In some illustrations, the boy is depicted as being the same size as the people around him. In other illustrations, he is depicted as being much larger than the people around him. This shift in perspective contributes to the dream-like quality of the picture book. There is also a theme of things not being what they first appear. On one page, what the reader thinks are trees at first glance are actually books that the boy and other characters walk into. On another page, what the reader thinks is part of the mountains is actually a croissant. This makes the reader feel slightly unsettled at having to shift his/her initial perspective, also adding to the dream-like quality of the picture book. In some places in the picture book, the reader feels "propelled" to the next page. This happens because the characters are walking off the right side of the two-page spread, or being blown off the right side of the two-page spread. All these things that I noticed added to my enjoyment of this wordless picture book because it helped me better understand the meaning contained in this story.
I would definitely share this wordless picture book with my students.
As I delved into this book, I noticed that the perspective was constantly being shifted. In some illustrations, the boy is depicted as being the same size as the people around him. In other illustrations, he is depicted as being much larger than the people around him. This shift in perspective contributes to the dream-like quality of the picture book. There is also a theme of things not being what they first appear. On one page, what the reader thinks are trees at first glance are actually books that the boy and other characters walk into. On another page, what the reader thinks is part of the mountains is actually a croissant. This makes the reader feel slightly unsettled at having to shift his/her initial perspective, also adding to the dream-like quality of the picture book. In some places in the picture book, the reader feels "propelled" to the next page. This happens because the characters are walking off the right side of the two-page spread, or being blown off the right side of the two-page spread. All these things that I noticed added to my enjoyment of this wordless picture book because it helped me better understand the meaning contained in this story.
I would definitely share this wordless picture book with my students.
November 11, 2022
There's no words, just pictures. And although I understand it's a boy's dreams, most likely based on what he read, did and ate that day, it didn't make much sense or keep me interested. You can pick out influences of such literary classics as Gulliver's Travels, The Wizard of Oz, and The Water-Babies.
Ages: 4- 8
Cleanliness: nothing to note.
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Ages: 4- 8
Cleanliness: nothing to note.
**Like my reviews? Then you should follow me! Because I have hundreds more just like this one. With each review, I provide a Cleanliness Report, mentioning any objectionable content I come across so that parents and/or conscientious readers (like me) can determine beforehand whether they want to read a book or not. Content surprises are super annoying, especially when you’re 100+ pages in, so here’s my attempt to help you avoid that!
So Follow or Friend me here on GoodReads! And be sure to check out my bio page to learn a little about me and the Picture Book/Chapter Book Calendars I sell on Etsy!
August 28, 2012
The book starts off with a young boy who has fallen asleep while reading a book. As he begins to doze off the book opens up to maps. While the boy is dreaming he falls on to certain places of the map, one place resembling a chess board. Another one looked like it was a castle. As he continues his dream he has picked up a sword and a shield as to protect himself from others. While dreaming he is being pulled into different directions. He even flies on what appears to be a leaf,but it is also a swan. As the young boy is drifting back into his bed, the swans and fish look over him almost as to reassure that he made it to bed safe. When he wakes up he sees chess pieces on his bed and his fish are poking their heads out looking at him. This was a cute book for kids to read, it gives the reader the idea that anything is possible when dreaming. Children will want to go to sleep and hope that they themselves wake up in a castle or end up on flying leaf-swans.
February 2, 2015
This amazing wordless picture book portrays the world of the diverse yet connected thoughts of children's imagination. A young boy is seen asleep cradling a book at the beginning and his dreams take him through different worlds that lead oddly yet interestingly to each other. His journey is also led by a symbolic map floating through each world as if it is traveling based on what it depicts. Weisner does a great job of transitioning the illustrations to new adventures with each page. This story would allow a child to view imagination with the adventure that it can be. This is also a story that needs to be looked at more than once in order to capture all of the illustrations meanings and how it is all connected.
August 6, 2016
This wordless book (which does contain a short poem on the front of the dust jacket that gives hints to what will occur in the story) is amazing. A boy falls asleep and enters the most imaginative and amazing adventure in his dream. I love how the illustrations begin as one thing and then morph into something else (ie. his bedspread becomes a countryside which becomes a chess board or trees which turn into books). I love the emotion captured on the boy's face. I especially love the concept that through books we can have countless adventures and explore a myriad of lands. This is a book that begs re"reading" because there is such depth and detail in the illustrations.
Also, this book reminded me of the poem, "What If?" By Isabel Joshlin Glaser.
Also, this book reminded me of the poem, "What If?" By Isabel Joshlin Glaser.
August 31, 2015
This is a book with no words. The story is told through pictures. It start with a boy who fell asleep while reading. The book shows where his dreams take him while he is asleep.
My six year old was imersed in this. He looked through the book many times. The first time through he examined the pictures, which are beautiful and very imaginitive. He pointed thins out to me that he found interesting. His favorite was a scene where the boy is on a life sized chess board and it pieces are live me be of a royal court. The second time through he told me a story to go along with the book. Since buying it a week ago, I often see this book in his hands.
My six year old was imersed in this. He looked through the book many times. The first time through he examined the pictures, which are beautiful and very imaginitive. He pointed thins out to me that he found interesting. His favorite was a scene where the boy is on a life sized chess board and it pieces are live me be of a royal court. The second time through he told me a story to go along with the book. Since buying it a week ago, I often see this book in his hands.
November 7, 2017
Wiesner is probably one of my favorite author-illustrators ever. I have a love for books without words. They force my children to use their imagination and look deeper to find what they believe to be the story.
Free Fall is a surreal fall into a young boy's dreamlike state. The images blend into each other, and one blurs into the next as you turn pages. If I could have another copy of the book, and take pages apart, the illustrations (with the exceptions of the first and last) would scroll page after page as if in a continual mural. I wish I could see it this way.
Keep dreaming, Mr. Wiesner. Please don't stop dreaming.
Free Fall is a surreal fall into a young boy's dreamlike state. The images blend into each other, and one blurs into the next as you turn pages. If I could have another copy of the book, and take pages apart, the illustrations (with the exceptions of the first and last) would scroll page after page as if in a continual mural. I wish I could see it this way.
Keep dreaming, Mr. Wiesner. Please don't stop dreaming.
September 2, 2016
Another fantastically illustrated masterpiece by David Wiesner. This one is mystical and mythological as a boy floats from one dream sequence to another.
It's a wonderful book to look at with children, pointing out all of the fascinating details.
This book was selected as one of the books for the August 2016- Caldecott Honor discussion at the Picture-Book Club in the Children's Books Group here at Goodreads.
It's a wonderful book to look at with children, pointing out all of the fascinating details.
This book was selected as one of the books for the August 2016- Caldecott Honor discussion at the Picture-Book Club in the Children's Books Group here at Goodreads.
October 5, 2017
I love that Free Fall is basically one extended illustration, interrupted only by page turns. I don’t think I have the first idea what the story is actually about, but there are a lot of interesting moments. I especially like the page where the boy arrives at a chess game in his blue pajamas and the one where he seems to be getting up from the page of a book. I also love the way the patterns of the boy’s blanket and book keep turning up throughout the rest of the images. David Wiesner has a most interesting imagination!
August 31, 2016
1989 Caldecott Honor - Favorite Illustration: I love the boy meeting the chess pieces. Although I do not particularly enjoy the game of chess, I do love the variety and details of available chess pieces.
This wordless tale shows us the power of dreams when a boy falls asleep one night. I love the way the story seems to flow from one scene to another, perhaps the same way dreams seem to flow into each other. I did also enjoy the poem on the opening flap of the book, and would have been a bit more confused at the book itself if (as in the paperback version) the poem hadn't been included.
This wordless tale shows us the power of dreams when a boy falls asleep one night. I love the way the story seems to flow from one scene to another, perhaps the same way dreams seem to flow into each other. I did also enjoy the poem on the opening flap of the book, and would have been a bit more confused at the book itself if (as in the paperback version) the poem hadn't been included.
August 4, 2016
I am a huge fan of David Wiesner, his artistic style, and his many picture books. This book is no exception. I love the whimsical, wordless fantasy of the boy's plaid bedspread becoming a fantastical dreamscape of various adventures. I love the lovely watercolor paintings. The loathsome dragon even shows up in the dreamscape, as well as some pigs. I would have voted this book for a Caldecott over Song and Dance Man.
March 19, 2017
I just don't understand this story. Obviously the boy is dreaming and is in a dream world based on his storybook and the noises in his room, but the actual events confuse me. I just don't have interest in wordless books. I don't have the attention span to "read" the pictures. The illustrations weren't appealing to me. It wasn't telling a story I was interested in.
February 12, 2018
Good for story telling. Little boy falls asleep reading a book, the window is open in his room and the wind blows and then he is off on an adventurous dream. Oh, the things he sees on his adventure/dream.
Pictures again are very realistic and detailed, watercolors.
Pictures again are very realistic and detailed, watercolors.
January 23, 2009
This interesting book has illustrations but no words. I don't think it is quite as good as some of the author's other works.
December 21, 2018
Every David Wiesner book is like an acid trip...
November 6, 2020
Day four of Hannah's reading challenge - a wordless picture book.
Wiesner creates a wonderful dream sequence in this wordless exploration that makes the picture book format seem limitless, as the little boy drifts off to sleep and you get to watch his dreams unfold (pay attention and you’ll see objects from his bedroom appear in his dreams!).
Wiesner creates a wonderful dream sequence in this wordless exploration that makes the picture book format seem limitless, as the little boy drifts off to sleep and you get to watch his dreams unfold (pay attention and you’ll see objects from his bedroom appear in his dreams!).
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