Free Fall by David Wiesner is a spectacular masterpiece of imagination, creativity, and cleverness. It is also, in fact, a book without words, a story entirely conveyed through pictures.

Wiesner starts off with a child and holds his audience as the boy travels through a realm of absurd happenings-- starting with a checkered bedspread that morphs into fields, which, in turn, converts to a real size chess game. Gradually scenery changes and escapades from sleepy dragons occur, as well as other adventures. The last page reveals our protagonist awake and peering at his surroundings in wonder. His room-- a bit messy-- holds certain features you may recognize as having, perhaps, played a role in the dream: after all, who is to know what is real and what is true in this perplexing story?

Wiesner’s artistic abilities are magnificent, with beautiful illustrations and a good use of color-- soft shades reflect the feel of a hazy dream, like when you wake up and it’s a fuzzy memory, a hand full of water that escapes through your fingers. Scenes reminiscent of Raphael, Escher, and Magritte make your mind flip with the use of juxtaposition and other curious twists of truth.

While this book is certainly not your traditional picture book and therefore, perhaps, hard for young children to follow, it is delightfully unique, an adventure throughout a realm of oxymorons. With an artist’s watercolors in place of a magician’s wand or a writer’s notebook, this book is just as pleasing as any literary novel.