Wordless Picture Books

Not too long ago I posted about the Owly series of graphic novels and talked a bit about how these books are so accessible because of the fact that they contain almost no words and tell the story using only pictures and symbols. There are plenty of other books that use similar techniques, telling the story with art instead of words. Here are a few of my favorites:

David Wiesner is a master of the wordless picture book. He has numerous awards under his belt for such stories, including a whopping three Caldecott Medals and two Caldecott honors. While many of Wiesner's books are wordless and all are equally worth checking out (seriously, go and get your hands on Tuesday and Flotsam), my favorite is The Three Pigs, which won the Caldcott Medal in 2002. The book opens seeming to be the traditional story that we all know and love, but when the Big Bad Wolf arrives he huffs and puffs and blows the pigs right out of their story! The pigs find themselves in a place that seems to be behind their tale, and the three wander - and even fly - from story to story meeting other characters along the way. What few words there are in this book seem to be more of a part of the illustration to be explored along with the drawings, rather than a text that needs to be read aloud. Perhaps it's the former English major in me, but I love the way that this book explores the narrative process, seeming to discuss ways that the imagination brings together tales that don't initially seem to have any real connection. Just like we all do, the pigs float from story to story, exploring as much as they like and taking the parts that they really need with them back to their own lives. Besides, the illustrations themselves are pretty darn awesome, and I love the way that Wiesner uses different styles for each story that the pigs enter.

Overall Grade: A+

This year, one picture book that's been getting some Caldecott talk for 2010 is Jerry Pinkney's wordless retelling of The Lion and the Mouse. This beloved Aesop's Fable is told in gorgeous pencil and watercolor illustrations that portray both the Majesty of the lion and the Serengeti, but also the beauty and detail of smaller creatures like the mouse. The illustrations are simply stunning and will demand your full attention as you page through the story. Part of the beauty of illustrating this very familiar story wordlessly is that it becomes nearly effortless for children and their parents to put words to the story themselves as they look at the illustrations - and narrative retelling is one of the necessary skills that a child needs to have in order to be able to read effectively!

Overall Grade: A

You Can't Take a Balloon into the Metropolitan Museum is an interesting tale by Jacqueline Preiss Weitzman. A girl visits the famous gallery with her grandmother and ties her yellow balloon to the railing. However, the balloon escapes anyway and floats off to have its own series of adventures. Reproductions of paintings featured at the Met are included with Weitzman's pencil drawings as the girl and her grandmother look at them at the museum. The action in these paintings always seems to reflect the balloon's adventures, giving viewers two separate but parallel stories. Weitzman has created two other picture book that follow the same format where other art galleries are visited: the Museum of Fine Arts, and the National Gallery.

Overall Grade: A