Picture books that are wordless or nearly wordless provide parents and teachers a wide range of experiences to explore with children. Turning the pages of a wordless book together with a parent is a entertaining way to allow the child to create a story, encourage the use of language and improve perception by studying the pictures for visual clues to the storyline.

Older students will find an opportunity to strengthen their writing skills by developing a narrative, creating characters and imagining dialogue based on the illustrations.

Here are a few titles worth a look: For younger children -

• Un-brella by Scott E. Franson



• Cool Cat by Nonny Hogrogian



• Jack and the Night Visitors by Pat Schories



• The Last Laugh by Jose Aruego

For older readers or to use as story starters:

• The Crocodile Blues by Coleman Polhemus



• Home by Jeannie Baker



• If you Lived here, You'd be Home by Now by Ed Briant



• The Lion & the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney



• Museum Trip by Barbara Lehman



• The Bored Book by David Michael Slater
  
  

Here are the answers for Friday's Famous Firsts:

1. "From his perch behind the click, Hugo could see everything." The Invention of Hugo Cabret. by Brian Selznick.


2. "My grandfather was a young man when he left his home in Japan and went to see the world." Grandfather's Journey by Allen Say.