[.ca] Sector 7 (ISBN 0395746566)

From Amazon.com:
In another wondrous, wordless picture book by Caldecott Medal winner David Wiesner (Tuesday and June 29, 1999), a class visiting the Empire State Building finds complete cloud cover and no visibility. One boy makes friends with a cloud (identifiable in the mists by the red mittens, hat, and scarf and swipes from the boy), and goes AWOL on a wonderful adventure. The cloud whisks him away to the "Sector 7" floating cloud factory, a bizarre sky station that looks like a Victorian design for a submarine. Hiding behind his new cumulonimbus friend, the boy enters an area resembling Grand Central Station (complete with "Arrivals" and "Departures" boards) and watches officious human types in uniform giving the clouds their weather assignments. When the clouds complain to the boy that their assigned shapes are boring, he, a talented artist, creates new blueprints for them. The stuffy grownups are furious when clouds start emerging in the shape of fantastic fish; they shout at the clouds, tear up the new designs, and escort the boy back to his school group. But the revolt of the clouds is unstoppable now, and in the last few pages the skies over Manhattan suddenly get a lot more interesting. (Click to see a sample spread. Copyright 1999 by David Wiesner. With permission of Clarion Books.) (Ages 2 to 8) --Richard Farr

Wordless wonderment!!:
A young boy rides with his class field trip to the Empire State Building on a cold, winter's day. Along the way, he draws elaborate pictures of animals on the fog on the windows. It's foggy on the observation platform, too; so foggy and cloudy in fact that he can't see anything. Imagine his surprise when a passing cloud takes off his scarf and hat! The boy is then invited on a journey with the cloud, and is swept off through the sky towards a large, submarine-like flying machine. It looks like something out of Jules Verne hovering there, with large funnels like curved smokestacks on it. There is a large clock showing the seasons of the year and a huge sign reading SECTOR 7. Going through one of the funnels, the boy and the cloud find themselves in a large room not unlike Grand Central Station, with people announcing arrivals and departures of different types of clouds. There are people in an office wearing sleeve garters and old style eye visors passing out blueprints to the clouds, showing their new formations. Well, the boy is a fine artist, after all, and he whips up a few blueprints of his own!! The clouds transform into fantastical geometric and detailed animal shapes. Needless to say, the engineers in charge are not pleased to see this, and though they press their own blueprints on the clouds, what happens outside of the flying sub is really up to the clouds themselves. "Sector 7" is by the same author who brought us the award winning book, "Tuesday." Similar to that work, "Sector 7" is a story told entirely without words. The artwork is detailed and lush, and one could easily pour over the drawings time and time again and notice something new that you had never noticed before. Indeed, "Sector 7" makes more and more sense the more you read it, mostly because each time you open the book you DO notice something else. Since the story is told without words and is a just a tad surreal, very young readers may not get as much out of it as their older peers. Children who have active imaginations, however, could easily get behind this story, and I can imagine them looking at the illustrations for hours, imagining their own flying submarines in the sky. I've used this book in writing classes before, encouraging students to compose their own text to this story, and have usually gotten very creative, good results!! Art teachers could use this book as well as an example of realistic detail in their work. I personally love "Sector 7" and press it on as many readers as I possibly can. Adults generally seem to love it as much as children, which is perhaps one of the highest compliments that can be paid for any book: universal interest and appreciation. If you know and love "Tuesday" or have never even heard of Mr. Wiesner, I strongly urge you to get your hands on this wonderful book!!

Gorgeous book:
The graphics are incredible in this book. I have 3 children ages 7, 5 and 5 and they were absolutely enchanted with this book as was I. Highly recommend this book for all ages.

Every day should be a cloudy day like this one...:
Of all the children's books I have read, this one stands out as my all time favorite. I love to write, and treasure the words in good stories, but Sector 7 needs no words to be understood. All you have to do is read the pictures, and let your imagination do the rest. A little boy with artistic talent draws in the fog on the window of the schoolbus that is taking his class on a field trip to the Empire State Building. When the children arrive, they rush to the top only to find that it is completely cloudy. There is zero visibility, nothing but clouds. This makes it easy for one friendly cloud to make friends with the boy, and whisk him away to Sector 7, a cloud factory in the sky. The clouds are bored with their round and blobby shapes, so the boy puts his talent to work to draw plans for new cloud shapes. The clouds begin to reinvent themselves into interesting new forms. It doesn't take long before the powers that be take notice, and search for the culprit. The boy is immediately caught and sent back to join his class. You'd think it would end there, but his precocious little cloud friends has other plans. The ending of this book is delightful, as the boy begins to see the difference he made take hold in the sky. My favorite illustration is the boy asleep at the end. Even I , as an adult, think that sleeping on a cloud would be heavenly. This book is magical for children and adults alike. If you are familiar with David Wiesner's work or not, Sector 7 is a special treat.

Brain candy:
This book is wordless and so shall you be when you finish it. I'm an EQ coach and help people develop their right-brains - so starved in today's world. This magnificent adventure of a book will take you back and it will take you forward and leave you suspended where you've never been before. Pretend you bought it for your child or grandchild, and dive in -- or rather float away. It's marvelous!

A Great First Book:
Sector 7 is a great first book. Since it has essentially no words and requires none to be enjoyed, the book can be "read" and understood by very young children. We all see the clouds in the sky and who hasn't seen something in their shapes? This book ranks with Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are." To get a child started on the road to reading and loving it, Sector 7 can be enjoyed alone, with a friend or parent.