I am pushing myself to include more wordless books in our reading life this year as Big Kid becomes more interested in “reading” stories herself. For the past year she has been memorizing books so she can “read” them to us.
A wordless book is any book where the illustrations tell the story with no, or extremely minimal words. Sometimes there are just onomatopoeias present. Wordless books have become works of art and are now a sub-genre in the publishing world.
By including wordless books in our reading Big Kid will:
- gain confidence in story telling
- improve vocabulary
- improve spoken language
- internalize sequencing in story
- look more carefully at the illustrations in a story
- improve creativity
- improve problem solving skills
- strengthen parent/child bond when we tell the story together
On Wednesdays I will be posting about our favorite wordless books using the hashtag #WordlessBookWednesday. I hope you follow along! Tag @kidslitlife on instagram in any post about wordless books you love.
For more information about wordless pictures books:
ALA Journal article about wordless picture books
Kids Lit Life Posts About Wordless Picture Books:
*These books can all be found on my Bookshop page in the Wordless Book List.*
Wordless Book Wednesday – A Boy, A Dog, A Frog and A Friend
Spring is the perfect time to read A Boy, A Dog, A Frog and a Friend by Mercer and Marianna Mayer, one in a series of wordless books by this duo. In this story, a boy fishes peacefully alongside a pond while a dog and frog sit nearby. When something heavy tugs on his line,…
Wordless Book Wednesday – Fossil
Big Kid was learning about rocks, minerals, and fossils in pre-school before everything shut down a few weeks ago. She was loving it, so when I saw Fossil, a wordless book by Bill Thompson, I grabbed it on our last run to the library. We have read it a few times since, and have tried…
Wordless Book Wednesday – A Ball for Daisy
In the famous words of Will Smith, “my life got flipped-turned upside down”, as I’m sure many of yours have. We are on week 2+ of quarantine and we are finally settling into a routine. I got both toddlers down for a nap at the same time, at least for the next 5 minutes, and…
Wordless Book Wednesday – Changes, Changes
Why We Read It: I love watching Little Kid play! She is almost 1 and loves to just tinker with things. She plays with blocks, nesting jars, Magnatiles, Lego Duplo, and any lose parts she can find. She tries to fit things inside other things, screw lids on, make blocks stick together, and has started…
Wordless Book Wednesday – Flora and the Penguin
The Book: Flora and the Penguin by Molly Idle, Caldecott honor illustrator of Flora and the Flamingo Why We Read It: We have been slip sliding on ice around here this week just like Flora and her penguin friend. Our world froze over the weekend after 60+ degree days last week. What it Inspired: We…
Wordless Book Wednesday – Red Sled
The Book: The Red Sled by Lita Judge Why We Read It: We are still anxiously anticipating a big snowfall here in New Jersey, big enough to break out the sled and go for a ride. What It Inspired: Big Kid loaded some animals into a shoebox and took them for a ride all over…
Wordless Book Wednesday – The Snowman
The Book: The Snowman, by Raymond Briggs, is a classic wordless picture book which was published in 1978, but still frequently pops up on winter booklists. The book has even been made into a darling movie. Why We Read It: We’ve had a few snow showers here, but Big Kid is wishing and waiting for…
Sidewalk Flowers
Sidewalk Flowers by JonArno Lawson & Sydney Smith is the touching wordless picture book about a girl who collects wildflowers on a walk with her distracted father. As she gifts each flower to a person or creature in her path, the girl, receiver, and city are transformed by her selfless act. There is so much…
Delivery
Special Delivery! Delivery, by Aaron Meshon was our favorite Valentine’s Day Book last year, and is gearing up to be a favorite again this year. The Story: Delivery is the nearly wordless (3 words in the beginning, and 2 at the end) book that tells the story of a grandmother, and her trusty cat, who…
I Walk With Vanessa
I Walk With Vanessa, by Kerascoet, is a wonderful wordless story for anytime of year, but it fits in perfectly with our #kidslitkindnesschallenge this month. This book can jump start so many conversations about what it is to be kind, how a simple act of kindness can change the trajectory of someone’s life, about bullying…
Kid's Lit Life 