Sector 7 [Hardcover]

Only the person who gave us Tuesday could have devised this fantastic Caldecott Honor-winning tale, which begins with a school trip to the Empire State Building. There a boy makes friends with a mischievous little cloud, who whisks him away to the Cloud Dispatch Center for Sector 7 (the region that includes New York City). The clouds are bored with their everyday shapes, so the boy obligingly starts to sketch some new ones. . . . The wordless yet eloquent account of this unparalleled adventure is a funny, touching story about art, friendship, and the weather, as well as a visual tour de force.

Only the person who gave us Tuesday could have devised this fantastic tale, which begins with a school trip to the Empire State Building. There a boy makes friends with a mischievous little cloud, who whisks him away to the Cloud Dispatch Center for Sector 7 (the region that includes New York City). The clouds are bored with their everyday shapes, so the boy obligingly starts to sketch some new ones. . . . The wordless yet eloquent account of this unparalleled adventure is a funny, touching story about art, friendship, and the weather, as well as a visual tour de force.

Although Wiesner's latest picture-book fantasy appears at first to be wordless, it actually has some words that are quite important. On a class trip to the Empire State Building, a boy who likes to draw is approached by a friendly cloud who takes him to Sector 7, a terminal reminiscent of a train station in the sky, where clouds form according to blueprints drawn up by grumpy, unimaginative humans. It seems the clouds are itching for a makeover, and the boy, pencil and paper in hand, gives it to them. Because words such as terminal, arrivals, and assignment station, which appear on signs in the pictures, are necessary to establish the scene in some instances, younger children may need adult help with the book. But the clever sometimes overlapping illustrations are wonderful: strong and prel/