Weslandia, by Paul Fleischman - Picturebook

I had to read Weslandia two times before I could really sit down and analyze it, and even then, I needed the help of my third graders to urge me along. The story, while it has excellent themes and aesthetically pleasing pictures, just really didn’t move me like some do. However, the many morals and themes in this story could not, and should not, be overlooked.

In this picture book we learn about Wesley who is anything but an ordinary boy. To put it lightly, he chooses to walk his own path in life and not to follow the sameness of others in his community. Unfortunately for this, he gets constantly ridiculed, even by his own parents!

The cover of Weslandia instantly reminded me of James and the Giant Peach. His larger than life plant “swist” looks as large as a pine or oak in a forest, just like the characters and the peach were to James. My third graders instantly thought of Harry Potter, especially when they saw the picture of Wesley. True, his looks resemble Harry, but really, the similarities go deeper. Harry has to deal with the cruel prejudices of his aunt and uncle and Wesley has to deal with the fact that his parents want him to be like everyone else (including to cut his hair into a mohawk, like all the other boys!). After being ridiculed and picked on by the majority of the people in his community (like Harry is at Hogwarts when his name gets pulled out of the Goblet of Fire), he decides that he has had enough with them and creates his own empire.

I do wonder who many people who came over to the New World of America were also tired of trying to fit into English society and were ready to start their own way of life? I used this book to introduce the ancient empires of Mali, Greece, and Rome. While the connection for the students was a bit lost, each empire had its specialization (like Wesley had his “swist”) and each empire thrived on being different or trading with other empires (like Wesley “allowing” the other kids to buy sunscreen/bug screen made from the plant swist). Wesley is the rare diamond of intelligence and difference in a community that only allows sameness. I am sure that Wesley would have been “released” at an early age in the book The Giver.

The author does an excellent job at weaving his craft. We start out much uninformed about how special Wesley is, but feeling sorry for him in the sense that he is always picked on by the other kids and his parents. However, as we read further and further, each page allows us to see into Wesley’s untamed imagination and to see each step of progress into his new empire. He amazes us with each page with each new concept Wesley has introduced into his community. He had a fantastic empire going, with written language and his own method of telling time, all between the time he got out for school and the time he entered! Pretty good for not wasting away during the summer!

The illustrations are beautiful and compliment the text in the way that a picture book requires. Sure, we readers could read about his civilization, but we never would have been able to picture how magnificent it really was until we saw it for ourselves. They are all large page bleeds and span the entirety of both pages. Nothing is small, much like Wesley’s civilization. Excellent!