{"id":13348,"date":"2026-10-24T20:08:03","date_gmt":"2026-10-24T12:08:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/?p=13348"},"modified":"2026-10-24T20:47:16","modified_gmt":"2026-10-24T12:47:16","slug":"on_david-wiesner_2021_05","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/2026\/10\/24\/on_david-wiesner_2021_05\/","title":{"rendered":"The fifth in a series of ten lec\u00adtures on David Wies\u00adner: \u201cThe Secrets of the Sea\u201d\u2014Imagination can\u00adnot exist with\u00adout a per\u00adsis\u00adtent curios\u00adi\u00adty."},"content":{"rendered":"
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Last time we talked about David Wies\u00adner\u2019s fan\u00adta\u00adsy epic, *Tues\u00adday*.<\/a>This time, let\u2019s talk about the mas\u00adter\u00adpiece of this word\u00adless book mas\u00adter, \u201cThe Secret of the Sea\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

This book won the Calde\u00adcott Medal in 2007, mark\u00ading David Wies\u00adner\u2019s third Calde\u00adcott Medal. Win\u00adning three medals is extreme\u00adly rare; the judges must have felt the book was so excep\u00adtion\u00adal, almost per\u00adfect, that they had to award it anoth\u00ader medal. His first two were *Tues\u00adday* (1992) and *The Three Lit\u00adtle Pigs* (2002). *The Three Lit\u00adtle Pigs* had a con\u00adsid\u00ader\u00adable amount of text, and *Tues\u00adday* also had some text, mak\u00ading them qua\u00adsi-word\u00adless books. *The Secret of the Sea*, how\u00adev\u00ader, is a com\u00adplete\u00adly word\u00adless book. David Wies\u00adner had pre\u00advi\u00adous\u00adly cre\u00adat\u00aded two oth\u00ader word\u00adless books of this type: *Dream Flight* and *Dream Fac\u00adto\u00adry No. 7*, both of which only won the Calde\u00adcott Hon\u00ador. With this third tru\u00adly word\u00adless book, *The Secret of the Sea*, he reached an impec\u00adca\u00adble peak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

David Wies\u00adner poured his heart and soul into cre\u00adat\u00ading this book, spend\u00ading five years illus\u00adtrat\u00ading all 48 pages from cov\u00ader to back cov\u00ader. So, what sto\u00adry does this book tell?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before intro\u00adduc\u00ading this sto\u00adry of the word\u00adless book, I would like to empha\u00adsize three points:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, this kind of word\u00adless book is actu\u00adal\u00adly impos\u00adsi\u00adble to tell.<\/strong>I remem\u00adber once a few of us sto\u00adry\u00adtellers were at the Bei\u00adjing Con\u00adcert Hall, telling sto\u00adries to hun\u00addreds of chil\u00addren with music play\u00ading. That time, Teacher Bird Xiang Hua told the chil\u00addren about \u201cThe Secret of the Sea\u201d for about half an hour. He and the chil\u00addren were very hap\u00adpy, but to be hon\u00adest, he only talked about a small part of the book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So remem\u00adberSec\u00adond\u00adly, word\u00adless books are par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly suit\u00adable for repeat\u00aded read\u00ading togeth\u00ader.<\/strong>Per\u00adhaps the best approach is for adults and chil\u00addren, or chil\u00addren in groups, to dis\u00adcov\u00ader sto\u00adries from books, find details in the illus\u00adtra\u00adtions, and exchange ideas, remind\u00ading and inspir\u00ading each oth\u00ader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And alsoThird\u00adly, this type of book inspires a love of explo\u00adration.<\/strong>What makes it fun is that no mat\u00adter how many times you watch it, you can always dis\u00adcov\u00ader some\u00adthing new, and there might be some\u00adthing in the sto\u00adry that makes you want to explore it fur\u00adther.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s take this book, *The Secrets of the Sea*, as an exam\u00adple. If we were to sum\u00adma\u00adrize it sim\u00adply, we could use four key\u00adwords: obser\u00adva\u00adtion, awe, rec\u00adol\u00adlec\u00adtion, and long\u00ading. Obser\u00adva\u00adtion, awe, rec\u00adol\u00adlec\u00adtion, and longing\u2014I\u2019ve tried to under\u00adstand the sto\u00adry\u2019s thread from these four per\u00adspec\u00adtives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First comes the obser\u00adva\u00adtion. Right in the cen\u00adter of the cov\u00ader is a large red fish eye. Turn\u00ading to the title page, the first image on the inside page is anoth\u00ader large eye\u2014this time, a boy\u2019s eye. On the next page, we see the boy lying on the beach, using a mag\u00adni\u00adfy\u00ading glass to observe a sand crab. That tiny crea\u00adture, which looks like an insect, is sci\u00aden\u00adtif\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly called a cica\u00adda crab. The name is a bit odd, com\u00adbin\u00ading \u201cmouse,\u201d \u201ccica\u00adda,\u201d and \u201ccrab\u201d\u2014and the cica\u00adda being observed is also star\u00ading at us with wide eyes\u2014this sto\u00adry invites the read\u00ader to pay atten\u00adtion from the very begin\u00adning; even if you don\u2019t look at it, it will look at you!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Judg\u00ading from the series of paint\u00adings, the sto\u00adry is about a beach where a boy is clear\u00adly on vaca\u00adtion. While oth\u00aders are swim\u00adming, play\u00ading in the sand, and build\u00ading sand\u00adcas\u00adtles, this boy seems to be con\u00adduct\u00ading research. Besides a mag\u00adni\u00adfy\u00ading glass, he also has a tele\u00adscope and a micro\u00adscope near\u00adby, and to pre\u00advent the sand from dam\u00adag\u00ading the micro\u00adscope, he pro\u00adfes\u00adsion\u00adal\u00adly cov\u00aders it with a sealed plas\u00adtic bag. This def\u00adi\u00adnite\u00adly has the air of an ama\u00adteur sci\u00aden\u00adtist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Next, he explored a beach clos\u00ader to the sea. While lying on the ground study\u00ading a pass\u00ading crab, a wave washed ashore and knocked him to the ground. When the wave reced\u00aded, he found an old-fash\u00adioned, mechan\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly con\u00adtrolled cam\u00adera. This cam\u00adera was quite remark\u00adable; it looked like an antique, but it was a very advanced under\u00adwa\u00adter cam\u00adera. The sign on it read \u201cMelville.\u201d Do you know what that means? Actu\u00adal\u00adly, there\u2019s no cam\u00adera brand with that name. It was made up by David Wies\u00adner. Melville was one of the great\u00adest Amer\u00adi\u00adcan nov\u00adel\u00adists of the 19th cen\u00adtu\u00adry, best known for *Moby-Dick*, a thrilling sto\u00adry about whal\u00ading at sea. This means the cam\u00adera has a very impres\u00adsive his\u00adto\u00adry, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After find\u00ading the cam\u00adera, the boy first asked around the beach, \u201cWho lost this cam\u00adera? Who owns it?\u201d Of course, no one claimed it. The boy opened the back cov\u00ader and found film inside. That made things eas\u00adi\u00ader! He could just take it to a pho\u00adto stu\u00addio, get the film devel\u00adoped, and find out who owned the cam\u00adera. The boy quick\u00adly ran to the pho\u00adto stu\u00addio, had the pho\u00adtos devel\u00adoped, and when he received them, oh my god, he was com\u00adplete\u00adly shocked!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This leads to the sec\u00adond key word: Amaz\u00ading!<\/strong>Or per\u00adhaps it was sim\u00adply aston\u00adish\u00adment. What did he see? An absolute\u00adly mag\u00adi\u00adcal under\u00adwa\u00adter world: a group of swim\u00adming red fish, among which were clear\u00adly wind-up robot\u00adic fish; a liv\u00ading room for a group of octo\u00adpus\u00ades, com\u00adplete with sofas and lamps lit by elec\u00adtric fish; a sea tur\u00adtle car\u00adry\u00ading a small city on its back, and a puffer\u00adfish inflat\u00ading into a hot air bal\u00adloon and soar\u00ading into the sky; aliens div\u00ading to the bot\u00adtom of the sea, with sea\u00adhors\u00ades stand\u00ading upright beside them; and giant starfish walk\u00ading like coral islands, with enor\u00admous sperm whales appear\u00ading as tiny fish beneath their feet\u2026 and so on and so forth. The under\u00adwa\u00adter pho\u00adtographs con\u00adtain so many details that read\u00aders need to dis\u00adcov\u00ader them through repeat\u00aded read\u00adings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In short, what amazed the boy most was the last pho\u00adto\u00adgraph. It depict\u00aded peo\u00adple: a girl who appeared to be from anoth\u00ader con\u00adti\u00adnent, hold\u00ading a pho\u00adto\u00adgraph; a boy of some eth\u00adnic\u00adi\u00adty, also hold\u00ading a pho\u00adto\u00adgraph; and a blond boy hold\u00ading a pho\u00adto\u00adgraph. The pho\u00adtographs pro\u00adgressed in lay\u00aders, get\u00adting small\u00ader and small\u00ader. The boy had to use a mag\u00adni\u00adfy\u00ading glass, and then, remem\u00adber, he even had a micro\u00adscope with him, mag\u00adni\u00adfy\u00ading each one, lev\u00adel by lev\u00adel, up to 70x. Final\u00adly, the only clear\u00adly vis\u00adi\u00adble image of the boy was a black and white pho\u00adto\u00adgraph, dressed in very old clothes, with old build\u00adings and peo\u00adple from a bygone era in the background\u2014it looked at least a hun\u00addred years ago, per\u00adhaps even back to Melville\u2019s 19th cen\u00adtu\u00adry. It turned out that this under\u00adwa\u00adter cam\u00adera had drift\u00aded ashore from that era, pass\u00ading through the hands of many chil\u00addren, and the pho\u00adtographs cap\u00adtured a jour\u00adney across time.Memories\u2014this is the third key\u00adword.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Look\u00ading at the pho\u00adtos that held count\u00adless mem\u00ado\u00adries, the boy felt as if he were in anoth\u00ader world. He sat blankly on the beach, star\u00ading at them. We can see that most of the tourists had left; it was prob\u00ada\u00adbly dusk. The boy des\u00adper\u00adate\u00adly want\u00aded to do some\u00adthing; he longed to join this jour\u00adney through time. This is the fourth key phrase. So, he took a self\u00adie in front of the Melville cam\u00adera, hold\u00ading up the last pho\u00adto. How do you take a self\u00adie with a robot\u00adic arm con\u00adtrol\u00adling a cam\u00adera? Imag\u00adine, this is a tech whiz; he has a trick up his sleeve. After he took the pho\u00adto, guess what? He picked up the cam\u00adera and, like a sling\u00adshot, tossed it far into the sea. The cam\u00adera then embarked on a new under\u00adwa\u00adter adven\u00adture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I won\u2019t go into the details of the adven\u00adtures that fol\u00adlowed, but I\u2019ll give you a lit\u00adtle hint: they fore\u00adshad\u00adowed at least two books. One was his lat\u00ader graph\u00adic nov\u00adel, *The Lit\u00adtle Mer\u00admaid*, and the oth\u00ader was actu\u00adal\u00adly an e\u2011book, an app called SPOT. But that\u2019s a sto\u00adry for anoth\u00ader time. At the end of the sto\u00adry, the cam\u00adera will nat\u00adu\u00adral\u00adly meet a sim\u00adi\u00adlar\u00adly curi\u00adous child on a beach in the future. And so the mag\u00adi\u00adcal tale con\u00adtin\u00adues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Okay, I\u2019ve giv\u00aden a very brief overview of the sto\u00adry\u00adline of \u201cThe Secret of the Sea.\u201d As always, to tru\u00adly enjoy this book, you have to read it slow\u00adly on your own, and it\u2019s best to think about it togeth\u00ader with your child.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So why did David Wies\u00adner spend five years illus\u00adtrat\u00ading this mag\u00adi\u00adcal sto\u00adry? The book is said to be 48 pages long from cov\u00ader to back cov\u00ader, but in real\u00adi\u00adty, it fea\u00adtures at least 90 large and small illus\u00adtra\u00adtions. Where did this painstak\u00ading\u00adly drawn sto\u00adry come from? Look at the ded\u00adi\u00adca\u00adtion page: the author ded\u00adi\u00adcates it \u201cto my fam\u00adi\u00adly and all those days by the sea.\u201d It turns out that when David Wies\u00adner was a child, until he was about 14, his fam\u00adi\u00adly would spend about two weeks every sum\u00admer vaca\u00adtion\u00ading at the beach. The boy in the book is rough\u00adly a reflec\u00adtion of David as a child.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anoth\u00ader inci\u00addent deeply moved David. When he was nine, he and a friend acci\u00adden\u00adtal\u00adly unearthed a met\u00adal bull in the riverbed of a creek near their home. It was slight\u00adly dam\u00adaged but most\u00adly intact. This bull sparked a lot of imag\u00adi\u00adna\u00adtion in the two boys. Since David was a lit\u00adtle old\u00ader, he may have found it first, so he tem\u00adporar\u00adi\u00adly kept it safe. Almost thir\u00adty years lat\u00ader, the friend met David again and brought up the bull, sug\u00adgest\u00ading it was his turn to keep it. David recount\u00aded how the bull had dis\u00adap\u00adpeared in an apart\u00adment fire, leav\u00ading the two friends deeply sad\u00addened. David felt that this expe\u00adri\u00adence of remem\u00adber\u00ading some\u00adthing was tru\u00adly spe\u00adcial, and thus, in *The Secret of the Sea*, the under\u00adwa\u00adter cam\u00adera was passed around like a relay. Every child who hap\u00adpens to get their hands on this cam\u00adera will like\u00adly imag\u00adine the pos\u00adsi\u00adble mag\u00adi\u00adcal expe\u00adri\u00adences, and the cam\u00adera can cap\u00adture the evi\u00addence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Regard\u00ading the pro\u00adfound influ\u00adence of this cre\u00adative approach and method, we must men\u00adtion David Wies\u00adner\u2019s fas\u00adci\u00adna\u00adtion with sci\u00adence fic\u00adtion films. He watched his favorite film, *2001: A Space Odyssey*, at least 25 times. Although he did\u00adn\u2019t think much about the film when he was draw\u00ading *The Secret of the Sea*, it was\u00adn\u2019t until the cov\u00ader was print\u00aded that David real\u00adized the large eye of the red fish on the cov\u00ader was actu\u00adal\u00adly the web\u00adcam of the super\u00adcom\u00adput\u00ader in *2001: A Space Odyssey*.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

That film rais\u00ades a very inter\u00adest\u00ading ques\u00adtion: is the end\u00adless devel\u00adop\u00adment of tech\u00adnol\u00ado\u00adgy ulti\u00admate\u00adly ben\u00ade\u00adfi\u00adcial or detri\u00admen\u00adtal to human\u00adi\u00adty? Tech\u00adno\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal advance\u00adment is cer\u00adtain\u00adly cool, but can\u2019t the super\u00adcom\u00adput\u00ader invent\u00aded by humans also destroy human\u00adi\u00adty? David Wies\u00adner seems to be show\u00ading chil\u00addren this pos\u00adsi\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adty: to organ\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly inte\u00adgrate the super\u00adpow\u00aders of machines with human intel\u00adli\u00adgence and emo\u00adtion\u00adal abil\u00adi\u00adties, and to use the pow\u00ader of tech\u00adnol\u00ado\u00adgy to con\u00adnect the past, present, and future. This cool artist is most con\u00adcerned with con\u00adnec\u00adtion itself; he longs to con\u00adnect with his own child\u00adhood and, in doing so, con\u00adnect with chil\u00addren of the present and future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s all for this book for now. We\u2019ll talk about the next one in the next episode.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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