Fantasy

Title: Weslandia
Author: Paul Fleischman
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Genre: Fiction (Fantasy)
Pages: 32
How Found: By accident at the UD Library when looking for another book!
Lexile: AD820L
Awards: Junior Library Guild Selection, PEN West Literary Award, and California Young Reader's Medal

Plot Summary: Young Wesley, who is sort of a misfit, decides to grow his own staple food crop (which he just learned about in school) and form his own civilization for a summer project. Mysterious seeds blow in on the wind, plant themselves in his garden and grow into amazing plants with magenta fruit. Wesley uses the plants and fruit to make food, clothes, and even a suntan/bug lotion which he sells to his former tormentors at school for $10 a bottle. By the end of the story, lots of kids join him in his garden for games and fun. He even writes about his project with ink made from the plants and his own 80-letter alphabet!
Relationship to Theme: Even though he starts out as a misfit, he has many friends at the end because of his inventions.
Personal Connection: I liked it because it was such a unique story, and I think every kid (including me) is fascinated by planting things and digging in the dirt! I like all the creative ideas too, like how he makes the clothes, ink, games, lotions, etc. The pictures are really bright and cheerful and really add to the plot.
Possible Readers: I think it could be read aloud to K-1st graders, and maybe independent for 2nd -4th. (There is some challenging vocabulary like myriad, entrancing, bedlam, etc., but I think the story could still be easily understood even if those words were to difficult for the reader.)
Instructional Ideas: Cultures and there main crops could be researched; it could be used with a science unit on how seeds grow; children could plant some of their own seeds; Paul Fleischman's book Seedfolks could be shared after this book and compared.