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David Wiesner has illustrated more than twenty award-winning books and has won the Caldecott Medal three times. Many of his books have no words but the highly imaginative illustrations spark the imagination and take readers on fantastical adventures.
Mrs. Koller’s students at Bahia Vista Elementary school came up with some great questions for Mr. Wiesner. Here is the full interview.
Who do you follow on YouTube and what is your favorite ice cream flavor? – Kevin B. 5th Grade
I don’t follow anyone on YouTube. It may sound boring, but I love vanilla ice cream the best.
How did humans get jobs at the factory in Sector 7? – Juan F. 4th Grade
After reading the book Sector 7, I wanted to know if you grew up in New York City? – Suly L. 5th Grade
Why do Tuesday and Sector 7 have very few words and almost all pictures? – Uriel O. 4th Grade
I grew up drawing constantly and drawing became the way I write stories. When I first saw examples of wordless books, I was amazed. I knew that that was what I wanted to do.
A wordless book offers a different kind of an experience from one with text, for both the author and the reader. There is no author’s voice telling the story. Each viewer reads the book in his or her own way. The reader is an integral part of the storytelling process. As a result, there are as many versions of Tuesday, Sector 7, Free Fall, and Mr. Wuffles, as there are readers. As the author of a wordless book, I don’t have to concern myself about whether the reader’s interpretation of each and every detail is the same as mine. My own view has no more, and no less, validity than that of any other viewer.
How did the humans come to be working there? That is a good question! I didn’t think about that while I was making the book, so there’s no right answer. What do you think?
I grew up in New Jersey, not too far from New York. I really enjoyed going into the city. I loved the architecture – especially the Empire State Building. It was great to be able to use it in my story. I designed the Sector 7 factory in the sky by looking at a lot of New York City buildings. I then created a place with bits of many of them all together.
What is your favorite movie and what makes it your favorite? – Krisly A. 4th Grade
2001: A Space Odyssey is my favorite movie. It is a very complex story and it is told almost entirely with images. I learned a lot about telling stories visually from that movie.
Is the story Hurricane based on your childhood? Did you have a cat named Hannibal? – Selvinio P. 5th Grade
Do you have any pets? – Melsi R. 5th Grade
Which animal do you like better cats or dogs? – Yoselyn S. 5th Grade
Yes, Hurricane is the only one of my stories that actually happened to me. Playing on that tree was the best! I had a cat, but her name was Fuzzy (really). I changed the name to fit in with the adventuring nature of the kids.
To make the pictures, I used old photos of my house, cat, yard, bedroom, etc. for reference. So, what you see in the book is where I lived and grew up. The kids are not me or my brother, although I used our names. I used the kids of some friends as my models.
I have had cats most of my life – I really like cats. Which isn’t to say I don’t like dogs. I just prefer cats.
The main character in my book Mr. Wuffles is my cat – although her real name is Cricket. I changed it because I wanted a ridiculously silly name for the character.
How do you come up with the ideas for your picture books?
How did the lily pads have the power to fly in the story Tuesday? – Brandon G. 5th Grade
Why is the book called Tuesday?
Why is the book Tuesday broken up by periods of time? – Jasmine Z. 4th Grade
What are the frogs watching on the television in the story Tuesday? – Anderson DeL. 4th Grade
Tuesday came about because I was asked to create a painting for the cover of an issue of Cricket Magazine (a magazine for kids). I was told that I could do whatever I wanted, but they let me know that there were a lot of articles about frogs in this issue. Frogs are very cool looking – soft, round, lumpy, and really goofy-looking. I wanted to draw them.
I got out my sketchbook and began to draw frogs. I then drew one on a lily pad.
The shape they made together, the round blob of the frog on top of the circular, saucer-like bottom, made me think of something else that had the same shape – a flying saucer. And then I thought, “why not make the frog and lily pad fly around, like a flying saucer?”
As I drew, I saw that the frogs weren’t actually flying. It was the lily pads that had the power of flight, like a carpet from The Arabian Nights. It was magic.
For the Cricket cover I showed a group of frogs rising up out of a swamp, heading off to whom knows what kind of mischief. I liked the picture a lot, and I liked the frogs as characters. They had distinct personalities. They looked pretty silly, yet up in the air they clearly felt dignified, noble, and a bit smug. I wanted to know more about them. I wondered what happened before and after this scene. I then began to create the story that would become Tuesday.
At least as often as people ask me where I came up with the idea for the book, they want to know, “Why Tuesday?”
I had come up with a lot of short scenes about the frogs and what they were doing that night. The story jumps ahead in time a lot, so I decided to punctuate the story with the times of the day, as dividers between the scenes.
It became clear to me that the mysterious element had to do with the particular day of the week when these strange things happened. So I tried to decide what the funniest day of the week was. I immediately discounted the weekend; Saturday and Sunday had too many connotations, as did Friday. Monday was next to go, being the first day of the work week, which left Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Wednesday’s spelling had always bothered me, so it was out. Thursday was all right, but the more I said “T-u-e-s-d-a-y,” the more I like the “ooze” quality it had in the middle. It seemed to go with frogs.
Why do you draw fish in many of your stories? Is that your favorite animal? – Mia C. 4th Grade
I don’t have any fish for pets. I like the way fish look and I like to draw and paint them. They appeal to me visually. They are very strange and fantastical looking, so I use them a lot when I make pictures and stories.
Have you ever thought about writing a book about Area 51? – Jeffery C-F. 4th Grade
I like to set my stories in ordinary places – backyards or inside houses. Everyday situations. That way, when I introduce a fantastical element, it seems even stranger.
I find Area 51 fascinating. But, it has such an otherworldly atmosphere about it already. Seeing something strange or unusual there wouldn’t seem out of place – you would expect it!
