Wordless Picture Books on Big Universe

Keisa Williams (aka Ms. K) is a K-5 School Librarian at Monarch Academy, a public charter school in Oakland, CA. She is certified in secondary and elementary education (MLIS and MEd) and loves collaborating with teachers and integrating technology into her library lessons. She considers herself a “Technology Diva” and “Gadget Junkie”.

Wordless picture books are a great way to encourage reluctant readers, motivate storytelling, and prompt creative writing. I was blessed to receive the Caldecott Medal winning book,  The Lion & The Mouse by Jerry Pinkney from a Twitter Elementary Librarian colleague, Ernie Cox. It was serendipitous that our kindergarten and first grade teams had just read another version of this story to our students.

When I introduced this book to students, I talked about how the illustrations in most picture books tell the story. I then modeled how to “read” a wordless picture book. I narrated parts and I added dialogue where appropriate. For example, “As the lion squeezed his paws around the mouse, the mouse screamed, “HELP!”…But no one heard his cries.” During the second reading, I call on students to “read” each page. When they narrate, I encourage them to think about describing how a character feels (and why),  body language, the setting,  and encourage them to add  dialogue to enhance their storytelling. They always surprise me with the humor and specific details they choose to add to the story.

Did you know that Big Universe has wordless picture books? Use these titles to get your little ones “reading”:

Wordless picture books on Big Universe

2 Comments

• Pragmatic Mom says:

  August 20, 2010 at 2:51 pm

  The Lion and the Mouse won a bunch of awards, if I’m not mistaken. If you like wordless picture books, David Weiser has some great ones: Flotson and Tuesday. Also, it’s has words but the 200 ish illustrations also tell the story in The Invention of Hugo Cabret.

  Thanks for the post on The Lion and The Mouse. I need to find this book to check it out!
• Keisa Williams says:

  August 25, 2010 at 12:25 am

  I have read all of those you mentioned. Great books! You will love The Lion and The Mouse.