Weslandia by Paul Fleischman

This book is a victorious tribute to overcoming bullying and celebrating a child's capacity for unique creativity at developing leadership skills. The cover of the book certainly draws in the reader. The illustrator employs the use of perspective, because the cover seems to put the reader on the ground looking up at Wesley standing on his huge flower stalks as though they are stilts lifting him above his own ground. After reading the book the reader can sense the symbolism in Wesley rising above his problem of being labeled "the different one."
Imagine the pressure on a young boy feeling ostracized by his own parents as well as his peers just because he does not conform to his peers. The bullying is evident with the full-bleed illustration of half-bald bullies chasing Wesley while he wards off projectiles such as rotton tomatoes and bananas with his make-shift shield of his backpack shored up with plywood. This illustration effectively extends the text on those pages about Wesley's skill at evading his tormentors. The illustrator's use of diagonal arrangement of lines and pictures creates the action and energy of that scene. The colors are vivid and bright throughout the book, and the full-bleed illustrations creatively apply perspective in the placement of graphics on the pages. The illustration of Wesley suddenly realizing how he can use his gardening skills to start his own civilization portrays Wesley head-on with his glasses lit up with sparks and yellow and read concentric lines that bespeak a "Wow" of an idea. This clearly shows a turning point in the story line, and the reader begins to zoom into the pages of the forthcoming adventure. The diagonal spiral breeze from the newly planted garden up to the wafting curtains into Wesley's sleepless night in his bedroom ignites an anticipatory page-turn to a different perspective that invites the reader to inspect Wesley's newly sprouting plants with him. On these full-bleed pages the reader is a worm or possibly a new plant looking up at Wesley. Several of the full-bleeds invite a page-turn. For example, The horizontal placement of picture elements of the bullies peeking over the fence and from behind one of Wesley's weavings to stare at his odd home-made outfit and his busy work in his garden makes the reader want to turn the page to see what Wesley will show his onlookers next. The following page surprises the reader who sees he mosquito-ridden bullies helping Wesley with his work and paying him for his mosquito repellant. Most of the rest of the illustrations put the reader at the perspective of looking up at the characters and actions in the story. This illustrative element blends well with the text and enlightens the text with added meaning. A few of the illustrations give the perspective of looking down on the picture such as the view of Wesley's sundial and the view of all of Weslandia as it turned out. Wesley's new civilization was comprised of more comfortable clothing, new vegetables, fruits, and food, a new language, and new games. The product of his creativity invited curious peers and earned him new respect from them. At the end he surfaced a leader with plenty of followers who had adopted his ways. No need for bullying now!