It seems wordless picture books are slowly trickling back into publishers' consideration. In the classroom I find wordless picture books are perfect for learning to talk about books. They help us to grow our vocabulary and develop story-like language. They help us grow our sense of story and teach us to think deeply about all that is happening in a story. They strengthen conversations about inferring and predicting. Wordless picture books help young readers learn that reading is thinking as they work to determine an author's message through illustrations.
Yesterday I meandered through one of our local libraries for a bit and stumbled upon two new wordless picture books that I'll be adding to my collection.
Float by
Daniel Miyares is a book I know I'll want to have on my shelf all year long. It's a story of a boy who builds a paper boat and then heads outside to play in the rain. He puts the boat in puddles big and small. Eventually the boat gets carried into a current that takes it into a gutter. He rushes to the spot where water is released only to find his boat is ruined. What will he do?
This book is beautifully illustrated in black and white shaded drawings. The author uses color to help add mood and keep our attention on the character and the boat. As the story changes so do the illustrations. It's really a must-see book.
Sidewalk Flowers by Jon Arno Lawson and Sydney Smith is another book you'll want to check out. In this story, a small girl is walking with her father. He seems to be a man on a mission, rushing here and there as his daughter walks with him. As they walk the small girl notices and collects small flowers seemingly unnoticed by the rest of the world. She then takes these flowers and shares them with others as her day brightens by her good deeds.
This books begins in mostly black and white as she collects flowers on her walk and then brightens with color as she begins to share her flowers with others.
If you're looking for new wordless picture books, you'll want to take a closer look at these two titles. You'll find more wordless picture books here:
I work with wordless picture books when I teach story (narrative) writing. For some kids it's much easier to write from pictures then to make it up. Excellent scaffold. Thanks for the new book review.
ReplyDeleteI like how you have different boards for books! So helpful when looking for the right book!
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