The Delights of Mostly Wordless Books featuring Jed Alexander's (Mostly) Wordless and other great books ~ Mira Reisberg

I'm having a blast co-teaching with Jed Alexander and I wanted to share his book as an example of why self publishing is so great and also talk about the awesomeness of wordless or almost wordless picture books as well. So here's my little review of (Mostly) Wordless followed by some other wordless or almost wordless books.

Wordless or near wordless books engage children's brains in very different ways than text driven books. Like works of art, they invite different forms of individual interpretation as to their meanings. They also invite greater conversations between child and reader as to what is or might be going on in the picture stories than a straightforward narrative.

Aaron Becker's Journey works on many levels beginning with an homage to Harold and the Purple Crayon. Like (Mostly) Wordless, it too features the power of imaginative play but is for older age children featuring a plot and mystery-driven narrative and gorgeous illustrations. It is a Caldecott Honor book.

David Weisner's books are also image-driven with few or no words and lots of surrealistic flourishes. In Flotsam a boy finds an old camera washed up on the beach and develops the film with extraordinary results (as you can imagine being from David Weisner). Apart from being ravishingly beautiful, the images takes us on a journey through time and place and imagination. This too is a Caldecott Honor book.

Zoom by Istvan Banyai is another fabulous wordless book that messes with our sense of reality. We think we are seeing one thing and then turn the page only to discover that it's really just one small part of something bigger. At times it's touching, other times it's funny, but it's always mind boggling trying to imagine what's coming next. Ultimately it literally and figuratively ends up being cosmic. Intrigued? I hope so. If you are up for it, would love to hear about any wordless books that you are partial too. ~ Yours in children's book love ~ Mira