Hopefully you’ve all been following along with our virtual storytimes lately! Although we aren’t reading books right now, you & your little one can enjoy the fun routines, songs, & rhymes of your favorite storytime group, and then check out ebook copies of titles we’ve recommended. One thing we’ve emphasized a lot in storytime lately are wordless books.
Did you just say wordless? How is that reading? Books aren’t just told by the words they hold. Books that show only pictures can still demonstrate how a story moves from left to right, from one illustration to the next. When you turn the pages, the story progresses. Even young toddlers can learn by example about how to hold a book (right-side up) and turn the pages (left to right) to follow the story. This is harder to demonstrate with ebooks, although it is possible – but you can always pull out old favorites that you might already have at home until the library is accessible again.
Wordless books also have a beginning, middle, and end; you are still introduced to characters, go through an experience with them, and find resolution at the end of the book. Older toddlers and preschoolers can use a wordless book model for a picture walk, as we’ve discussed before. They can tell their own story based on what they observe (rather than what the words suggest), which can build narrative skills, vocabulary, and imagination as much as any book with words.