Weslandia by Paul Fleischman
Wesley decides to spend his summer project creating his own civilization. He begins by turning over a plot of land and lets new and unknown seeds blow into it. An unknown plant does develop, and Wesley uses that plant for the basis of everything–including food, clothing, and shelter. He develops his own alphabet and writes with ink from the plant. He tells time and develops his own number system using the flower with eight petals as his base. He also creates his own games and sports. Pretty amazing, huh?! When he returns to school in the fall, his old tormentors have now turned into good friends.
This is a fun and very creative book with amazing pictures! Younger children may not get the whole storyline, but they seem to enjoy the creativity and bright pictures anyway; it’s always been a favorite in my preschool and 1st grade classrooms. I think this would be a great book for older children though; how fun to see what type of civilization they could create using this book as a base! Check it out and see what your children think!
