Sector 7 (1999)

Wow, this is an awesome book. David Wiesner's illustrations are always good, but this is one of my favorites. The story is fun and the illustrations are very imaginative. The detail is incredible. This book would work well to introduce students to many different art concepts. Also, great for all ages, it is wordless so even the youngest can enjoy this by themselves. ( )

The immensely talented David Wiesner - three-time winner of the Caldecott Medal, for Tuesday, The Three Pigs and Flotsam - presents another brilliantly creative wordless story in Sector 7, itself a Caldecott Honor Book. The tale of a boy who, on a class trip to the Empire State Building one foggy day, encounters a friendly cloud, and is borne off to the amazing Sector 7, where clouds are given their assignments, it is as engaging as it is beautiful! The watercolor artwork is simply breathtaking, while the story-idea itself is fantastic, drawing upon that age-old human preoccupation with the shapes taken by clouds, and the possibility that those shapes could be changed...

I found this book delightful, and as with Wiesner's Flotsam, had absolutely no trouble following the story, despite the absence of any text. The artist's skill, in setting up his visual narrative, is astounding, and the beauty of his watercolor paintings cannot be overstated. I loved the many piscine and marine forms that the clouds took, with the boy's (initial) help, as well as the concept of Sector 7 in the first place. An imaginative journey that both captures a child's flights of fancy, and inspires her to greater heights of imagination, this is an outstanding example of the art of the picture-book! Highly recommended, to anyone who appreciates wordless stories, and to fans of David Wiesner. ( )

David Wiesner's wordless picture book Sector 7 is magical, creatively whimsical, and for those who tend to have trouble following an illustrations-based instead of a text-based narrative, it is thankfully neither too cluttered nor too busy. The book presents an easy to comprehend story line, and the concept of going up amongst the clouds, meeting clouds, traveling with clouds, befriending clouds is something that I think many of us have secretly longed to experience at some time (I remember lying on my back as a child, watching the clouds go by and imagining myself up, up among them, enrobed in soft fluffiness). And while I love all of the illustrations, I think that my two favourite spreads are the arrivals/departure deck at Sector 7 (so much like an airport or a busy train station, I had to laugh) and very last picture of the young boy, sleeping in the cottony soft embrace of his new cloud friend. ( )

4-5Q- The illustrations are interesting and provide the necessary detail for the story. Reminds me of the Invention of Hugo Cabret.
4P- Kids will enjoy the images and interesting story they tell. ( )

"Sector 7" is about a young child that goes on a feild trip to the empire state building and gets abducted by a cloud. The cloud takes the child to a place called Sector 7 which is a cloud making factory. The child draws up plans for bizarre clouds that look like fish. When the child leaves the museum the sky is filled with fish that the child had imagined. The illustrations are detailed and thourough enough to tell the whole story. ( )