Freak369's Full Review: Paul Fleischman - Weslandia
When I started going through all the books in the kids rooms I came out with three large boxes of books that haven't seen their pages turned in over a year. Some had thick layers of dust on the covers, other were dog eared or had pages folded over to special passages. It was then that it hit home that my babies weren't babies any more; they were growing up and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it. I'll admit it, I sat down on the floor and started paging through the books wondering if maybe I shouldn't get rid of these. That's when the tears started. "Something Special" was Simon's favorite and Ian wouldn't go to sleep unless I read him a few pages from "The Spiders Web". So many memories of days gone by. My youngest saw me sitting on the floor and sat down next to me. He put his little hand on my leg and said "Don't cry mum, I bet there are a ton of cool bookstores in New York". Out of all my boys, he's the ones that the most sensitive but all that changed when he saw Weslandia sitting in one of the boxes. "What is this doing in the box?" I figured he'd read it a million times and had no interest in it, it was tucked behind the headboard of his bed and looked like it hadn't been touched in years. That's when my little man explained to me that he's just like Wesley; misunderstood, brilliant, inquisitive and a free spirit. Listening to him talking about how much he identified with this book blew me away. That's when I knew that this would be one of the books that made the trip.
I think every person can identify with this book, no matter what age you are or where you live - at one point in time you were a kid and no matter how popular you are, how much money your family has or what you look like, at some point in time you just didn't fit in. Maybe you did something that wasn't 'cool' or you wore braces, maybe you didn't have a collection of clothes that were the designated color of my month by the popular kids. What ever the history behind it, suffice it to say that almost every kid felt out of sorts and as someone that felt that way most of my childhood it was slightly painful for me to sit and listen to my son talk to me about how much he identified with this book. Every parent wants the best for their kids, you don't want them to go through the same things you went through. What really got me about this book is that it's so charming and endearing, you have a kid that doesn't like pizza, his parents think he's odd and the kids at school tease him. But it's the small things that really make this a book that kids can / will read over and over again, especially as they get older. A good example of this is the weeds; Wesley turns over some soil and let's fate take over in regards to what types of seeds are blown into the soil and what type of plants grow. When a neighbor peeks over the fence and tells him he needs to get rid of the weeds to make room for the real plants Wesley responds with "In this type of garden there are no weeds". There's a lot of meaning in the sentence; Wesley, the perpetual outcast refuses to pass judgment on a plant based on what other people call it or think of it.
The Creation of Weslandia
The story goes like this; Wesley leaves the course of his garden up to chance. He doesn't plant anything nor does he weed anything. When the seedlings start to sprout he tries to find out what kind of plant it is but can't find anything in any book that even comes close to defining it. The plants grow and grow and grow, until one day fruit started to sprout. From there things really started to change for Wesley. He no longer ate the regular foods that his parents had in the house but chose to eat the delicious fruits that the plants produced. He started to find a lot of uses for the various parts of the plant; like using the bark of the plant to make a hat, fashions clothes from parts of the stalks and eventually creates his own self contained utopia where everything he needs can be made from the plants. Eventually he started sleeping in the middle of his little world, aptly named Weslandia. The one thing that I really liked about the book was the turn around attitude of his parents; instead of them yelling out the window that he's wasting his time with the plants or being mean to him they comment on his change of attitude, "It's the first time in years he's looked happy".
The creation of Weslandia also brings about a change in the way he is seen by other kids in the neighborhood and he does capitalize on this by selling them bottles of a special concoction to repel bugs at the tune of ten dollars a bottle. Eventually curiosity gets the better part of the kids and they drop their guard to see things from Wesley's point of view. The once mean and verbally vicious kids started to play the games that he created and, while not mentioned in the book, start to live the way Wesley lives; a basic but extremely fulfilling lifestyle. When the end of summer arrives Wesley culminates his efforts by creating his own alphabet and writing about the adventures that he had over the summer. Returning to school he has a smile on his face and more than a few new friends in tow. According to my son, this was the best part of the book because it made him feel good knowing that eventually the torment that happens when you are a child, it does end.
My Thoughts
I'd read over the book a long time ago and figured it was just a cute story that a few of the boys might like. They are all awesome kids that have superb imaginations, love learning about new things and don't really care what other people think of them. They are fiercely protective of each other and when someone makes fun of one of them, the others jump in and let them know that they are in for trouble if they don't back off. My youngest really identified with this book and said that it really helped him get over some of the things that people said to him and about him. It was then that I started to question whether homeschooling them was a good choice, that maybe if they were in traditional schools they would have mixed with other kids a little more and not seen as geeks. The choice was always left up to them as to whether they attended school or homeschooled but that did little to make me feel better at the time. When I asked my son if he regretted not going to a standard school he laughed, "Mum, how many kids my age can read and write hieroglyphics?". That pretty much summed it up for me.
The Bottom Line
When I first read this book I thought it was cute but now I realize why my youngest has such a strong connection to it. In it he found a little bit of peace; out of all the boys he was teased the most when he went to a regular school. He wears glasses, could case less about the clothes he wears and would rather read a book or do an experiment than go hang out at the mall or play outside. If you have a child that is going through a little bit of teasing for being different this is a great book to pick up for them. They'll see that eventually it will stop and the people that once teased them or made fun of them will see them in a different way. The illustrations are beautiful and cover the entire page with easy to read text. It has a whimsical feel to it when you leaf through the pages of it and when the book ends, you just smile knowing that Wesley came out on top. My son has already packed this book away with his beloved collection of bugs and leaves that he's collected, I have no idea how long he'll hold on to this book or if he'll even read it again. I guess in some ways it's like a security item, when he feels a little out of sorts he think about it and how Wesley could care less what others thought. He never tried to fit in with other kids his age, never gave in to peer pressure to look like everyone else and was happy with who he was.
Out of school for the summer, Wesley decides start his own civilization in a garden. When the plants begin to grow, they soon tower over him and bear ...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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