I vaguely remember when I was little looking at books that had no words, just pictures. They are perfect for little ones who can’t read, who can look at the pictures and understand the whole story. But contrary to what you might think, books without words are also an excellent tool for language acquisition! Instead of being limited to the words chosen by the author, wordless picture books can be used to encourage kids to make up their own stories.

For each page spread, ask the child what they see in the picture. Who is the main character? What are they doing? Ask the child to imagine what they don’t see – what smells might be in this scene? Sounds? Point out what the character is wearing and ask what the weather might be like there. What is happening beyond what can be seen in the pictures? On one page a child puts a newspaper-boat on the ground in moving water while it’s raining, and in the next picture the boat is a bit further from the child – what emotion does the child’s face show? Why? (This example is from Daniel Miyares’ book Float, and the child looks surprised and worried because the boat is floating away down the street and the child must not have expected that to happen, or because the child doesn’t want to lose his boat, or because… let your child fill in the blank.)

Caldecott Winners – Wordless Picture Book Recommendations

A Ball for Daisy by Chris Raschka

A Ball for Daisy won the Caldecott Medal in 2012. This award is awarded annually to the illustrator of the “most distinguished American picture book for children” published the previous year, selected by a special committee of the American Library Association. Several winners have been wordless books, including this one, Wolf in the Snow (2018) by Matthew Cordell, Flotsam (2007) and Tuesday (1992) by David Wiesner, The Lion & The Mouse (2010) by Jerry Pinkney, and Noah’s Ark (1978) by Peter Spier. Daisy is a white dog with a red ball. She goes to the park and meets a brown dog, who accidentally pops the ball while playing together. Daisy is sad, but the next time she goes to the park, the brown dog is back too and brings a new blue ball for Daisy. It’s a simple story, but a lot can be discussed about how Daisy feels, and how your child would feel if they brought a toy to the park and another child accidentally broke it while playing together, and so on.

New Friends – Wordless Picture Book Recommendations

Owl Bat Bat Owl by Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick

Owls sleep on trees upright. Bats sleep on trees upside down. When a family of bats “move in” with a family of owls, sharing a tree branch, the big owl (parent or guardian) makes the little ones move closer to the tree. When an owlet flips upside down on the branch, the big owl gets angry and gestures for the owlet to come back up. Then a big gust of wind blows them all off the branch, and the big owl and bat must work together to bring everyone home, which of course brings them all together as friends. The pictures are all framed by the tree on the left side of the page, and one branch bisecting the page horizontally, drawing the reader’s focus to the animals and their story. You can branch out (pun intended) to discuss things like pre-judging others, and the importance of coming together in times of need even if you don’t know the others very well.

Honorable Mention – Wordless Picture Book Recommendations

Dude! by Aaron Reynolds

Here’s a popular variation on the wordless picture book. There is only one word in this story, repeated endlessly, but the fun is that based on the pictures you can see that the word must be read differently each time. The platypus friends greet each other with a happy, “Dude!” One sees a shark fin in the water and cautiously asks his friend, “Dude…?” And then they see the shark and loudly yell in fear, “DUDE!” as they try to get away. This is probably better suited to a pre-K child than a toddler, who is better able to understand the nuance.

Check out Miss Michelle’s Book Nook

Miss Michelle shares her book recommendations each month on the In Our Homeschool blog. Find links to all of her posts here.

Miss Michelle is the sister of Kristen, who writes this blog. She has a daughter who is 9 and a son who is 5. They are not home-schooled, but Miss Michelle is super supportive and proud of her sister for doing it. She has been a full-time Children’s Librarian for over 16 years and loves to recommend her favorite books. You can follow her on Goodreads, where she keeps track of books she has read for storytime, at https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/170007385-miss-michelle.