Caldecott Monday: Flotsam

[osprey_archer]

David Wiesner won his third Caldecott medal for Flotsam, which honestly seems like more Caldecott medals than anyone needs - spread the love around, Caldecott committee! - but at the same time I can’t really blame them, because how were they supposed to resist a book that features steampunk fish?

In fact, there is an entire steampunk underwater world. And steampunk is actually probably a reductive word for it, because while there are mechanical fish, there’s also a town made out of seashells on the back of a giant turtle and a trio of enormous starfish with islands on their backs. Our hero catches a glimpse of it when an underwater camera washes up on shore, and he sees the photographs it has taken - as well as a photo that shows all the camera’s other owners over the years.

Owners is probably the wrong word, though. They don’t seem to own the camera so much as have the luck to find it for a bit, and give it back to the sea when it wants to go. But first they all took selfies with it, each one holding the photograph of the kid who came before, so that with a magnifying glass - and then a microscope - the protagonist can look back and see who has had the camera before.

Comments

[sovay]

And steampunk is actually probably a reductive word for it, because while there are mechanical fish, there’s also a town made out of seashells on the back of a giant turtle and a trio of enormous starfish with islands on their backs.

I really loved this book.

[osprey_archer]

There's so much imagination packed into it! So many delightful ideas packed into just a few pages.

[asakiyume]

I **saw** a steampunk fish in a museum in Mobile, Alabama. I wonder if I can find the photo...

[osprey_archer]

Ooooooh! Do link it if you do!

[asakiyume]

Here's the photo: it was called "fossil," and the artist is Bruce Larsen:



I searched and found his website. You can see he has lots of other cool, semi-steampunk art--most of it in Alabama! He grew up there.

[osprey_archer]

Oh wow! That looks like it swam straight out of Dinotopia! So cool.

[asakiyume]

... Actually, i's not really so steampunk, is it. But maybe a little?

[osprey_archer]

Well, it's got that little engine, doesn't it? And the little fish inside it, looking out through the porthole and steering the big fish. Definitely steampunk adjacent if not full steampunk. It's sort of a fish-machine cyborg.