Hey guys! November is Picture Book Month. If you follow this blog, you already know that is the majority of what I talk about and use in story times. However, there are also a good number of books that are JUST pictures - no words, and I thought I'd feature them today.
Picture-only books a little hard to work into story time, but they're a great tool to get kids involved in the story telling process. There's a lot more that goes on with reading a wordless book than just looking at pretty pictures. They have to infer and comprehend the plot - and even use their imagination to help fill in gaps. (And - a little bonus - the illustrator is the start of the show.) So here's a few that are great:
Flora and the Flamingo by Molly Idle. An adorable book where a girl named Flora (who is in a swimsuit and flippers) meets a flamingo and they go through this copycat game/dance. Very simple, not much plot, but an entertaining book nonetheless. (The author has another called Flora and the Penguin).
Pancakes for Breakfast by Tomie DePaola. There are *some* words in this - an ingredient list in the woman's book and labels on things. However, if there weren't those things, I think you could still follow the story just fine. It's a lot like Eric Carle's Pancakes, Pancakes - but without words. A woman wakes up and wants pancakes, but doesn't have any of the ingredients. So she fetches eggs from the chicken, milks the cow for milk and then churns some for butter. She goes out to get maple syrup, and when she comes back her animals have eaten the eggs and milk. Eventually yes, she does get pancakes.
Flotsam by David Wiesner. I LOVE this book. It is so pretty. Basically, a boy finds a camera washed up on the beach. He gets the pictures developed and there are all sorts of crazy pictures from under the ocean - of octopuses in their living room and mermaids and mechanical fish. While the boy is trying to take a selfie with the camera (it makes sense in plot), the camera gets washed away, only to wash up on the shore for another child later. The amount of detail that is in each page of illustration is amazing. The man is a Caldecott winner for good reason.
Chalk by Bill Thomson. Three children find a bag of magic chalk on the playground one rainy day. They find out that whatever they draw comes to life. One draws a sun, the other butterflies, and the third - a T. REX!!!! The children are chased by the T. Rex, and while hiding inside the playground equipment, the little boy draws rain clouds, and the rain washes away the other drawings, making the T. Rex disappear. They leave the bag of chalk back where they found it.
There are LOTS more wordless picture books (esp. by Wiesner). Hopefully this inspires you to check some out. :)
