Wordless Picture Books

Core Idea

Some picture books have no words at all -- the pictures tell the entire story by themselves. You "read" the book by looking carefully at each illustration and figuring out what happens next. Everyone who looks at a wordless book can tell the story in their own words, which means the same book can sound different each time.

How It's Best Learned

Sit with a wordless picture book and tell the story out loud as you turn each page. Try it again another day and see if you tell it differently. Listen to a friend tell the same book and notice how their version compares to yours.

Common Misconceptions

• Thinking a book with no words is not a real book; wordless picture books are carefully designed to tell complete stories.
• Believing there is only one right way to tell the story; different people notice different things and that is part of the fun.
• Assuming wordless books are easier than books with words; they actually require close observation and creative thinking.

Explainer

Wordless picture books are books with no words at all. Instead of text, the illustrations tell the entire story. You become the storyteller -- you look at each page carefully and tell what you see, figure out what happens, and say the words yourself. Every time you read a wordless book, you might tell it a slightly different way, and that is exactly the point.

How do you read a wordless picture book? You turn the pages slowly and look very carefully at every illustration. What do you notice? Where are the characters? What are they doing? What is their expression or feeling? What changed from the last page? By asking yourself these questions, you understand what is happening in the story. Then you use your own words to describe it out loud.

Here is something wonderful: there is no one right way to tell a wordless story! Two different people might read the same book and tell two different but equally valid stories. Maybe you notice details that your friend did not notice. Maybe you imagine different things about how a character feels. Maybe you come up with a different ending. This is not wrong -- it is creative and beautiful.

Wordless books actually require clever thinking. You have to observe closely, noticing tiny details in the pictures. You have to imagine what is happening and what might happen next. You have to organize your thoughts to tell the story in order: beginning, middle, end. These are important skills, just like reading words!

Wordless picture books are real books and real stories. Artists carefully design these books to tell meaningful stories through pictures alone. When you read a wordless book, you are doing real reading -- understanding a narrative, following a character, and experiencing a story. The fact that you use your own words instead of reading printed words does not make it less real. It makes it special!