Weslandia by Paul Fleischman, illustrated by Kevin Hawkes, first published in 1999, Candlewick Press $23.95
Weslandia is the name of this awesome book. It is about a boy who is different to all the other boys and girls, his name is Wesley.
All the other boys and girls hate him so he decides to make a land of his own. He makes up his own civilization. After he has created his land, he has no shortage of friends. The pictures of Weslandia show detail, person and place, set a mood and complement the text.
The text tells a story that you couldn’t tell just with Weslandia’s pictures.
My favorite part in Weslandia is where Wesley is in his land making a bed on top of the trees/flowers out of the roots of his new plant. I like it because it is colourful and detailed and because it gave me a feeling that I never wanted the book to end. It is an awesome book!! One part of the story that made me laugh was when the bullies felt sorry for themselves.
I reckon everybody who is imaginative would love this book.
- by Matthew, age 10
