While emphasizing middle-grade readers, Judith Cassady notes that any grade level can benefit from exposure to wordless picturebooks for the inherent creativity involved in developing one’s own interpretation of the story. While wordless picturebooks are excellent ways to introduce preschoolers to the book’s format and design and to book handling and sequencing of a story, 4 the wordless picturebook is no longer just for beginning readers. Literacy Use: Putting Words to the Wordless

The visual sophistication of the author’s/illustrator’s work allows readers of all ages to interpret the story for themselves, whether orally, in writing, or in a different form of creative response. 3 Images have become more than simple didactic aids prompting young readers to speak, and instead reach new levels of artistry within the picturebook’s thirty-two-page format. 2Ĭreating picturebooks without words for children, however, has its roots in educational aids to simply encourage younger children to speak about a story, until the 1970s, when wordless picturebooks shifted their emphasis to the unlimited possibilities in graphic narration. 1 Many of the wordless picturebook makers highlighted, such as three-time Caldecott winner David Wiesner (see sidebar), have been informed by the rich history of wordless books for adults, artists’ books, and graphic novels. In Wonderfully Wordless, an ambitious reader’s advisory of sorts for several types of wordless books, author William Martin gleans expert worldwide opinion to select the best in contemporary wordless books, including picturebooks. In many countries, including the United States, wordless picturebooks have become a sub-genre unto themselves-a publishing trend resulting in author/illustrators who even specialize in this type of book.Ī current search on for juvenile books with the Subject Heading “Stories Without Words,” yielded just over two thousand, with a notable increase in the latter half of the twentieth century leading into the twenty-first. Her work may be seen at Wordless picturebooks are on the rise and are increasingly revered by readers and critics. Jennifer Gibson is a Visiting Assistant Librarian at the State University of New York at Cortland’s Memorial Library, as well as an illustrator.

David wiesner wordless books