"Read" Without Words

Sometimes, reading the book aloud to the kids is the best part.

In B. J. Novak's new bestseller The Book With No Pictures, everything written on the page has to be said by the person reading it aloud. It's awesome for the adult, and kids will want you to read it again and again.

Listening to a Beginning Reader

Last night, I snapped this picture of my daughter reading to my son at bedtime. My first reaction was defensive -- "Hey, that's my job!".  Then I heard my 4-year-old jumping in to help big sister figure out the hard words by using clues from the illustrations. And, of course,  I was just bursting with pride.

As "reading together" evolves, the books that we enjoy together change.  The 6-year-old wants to practice reading aloud, and the 4-year-old just wants to listen to a parent read the story.

Thank goodness, I discovered something that levels the playing field -- amazing wordless pictures books from the 2014 Goodreads Reader's Choice Awards list

Reading Books Without Words?

These wordless books don't have ANY words. But that doesn't make them quick reads. We snuggle in together, examining the illustrations, lingering over each page, pointing to details and telling the story aloud to each other as we see it evolving on the page.

Here are some of our current favorites:

Journey by Aaron Becker is a detailed depiction of a young girl's adventures after she uses a red marker to draw a door on her bedroom wall and enter another world. In the continuation book Quest, the young girl is joined by a young boy with a purple marker on another adventure through a mysterious doorway.

The Girl and The Bicycle by Mark Pett depicts a girl who sees a bicycle she wants to buy, works hard for a kindly neighbor to earn the money for it, then gets a pleasant surprise. And a warning, my daughter always says "Mom, are you going to cry again when we read this one?" Pett's previous book, The Boy and The Airplane, features a boy who comes up with an inventive solution for getting his toy airplay down from the roof.

Have you "read" a wordless picture book? Try this search for " Stories without words to find many more titles!  What picture books -- wordless or otherwise -- do you enjoy reading with kids?