Best Wordless Picture Books

Personally, I'm not that into wordless books. I find myself fumbling for what to say when I 'read' them to my kids...and I write for children for fun.

However, I see great value in them for children who are not intimidated by such things. They can create their own stories and read them to us.

Our favorite wordless picture books are:

1. Chalk by Bill Thomson: This is our hands-down favorite. Some multicultural children find a bag of chalk. Everything they draw becomes real...butterflies, the sun...and then, one of the kids draws a dinosaur. The tyrannosaurus comes after the kids. They run for shelter in the playground. The dinosaur can't beat the kids' creativity, though. They draw something to destroy the dinosaur.


2. Tuesday by David Wiesner: Evening comes, and the frogs come out. They fly through the quiet sky until morning, when they wait for their next excursion.






3. The Chicken Thief by Beatrice Rodriguez: A wolf steals a chicken, and the chicken's friends try to come to his rescue...but the wolf is just looking for a friend.






4. The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney: Aesop's fable is brought to life in gorgeous artwork. An unlikely friendship forms between the lion and the mouse when lion allows mouse to live. Mouse finds a way to return the favor.










5. Shadow by Suzy Lee: Shadow is an imaginative look at what shadows can look like to a little girl. It's really interesting, though less of a story than the previous recommendations.






6. A Long Piece of String by William Wondriska: This is a wordless alphabet book. Simple line drawings. It's really unique. We followed the string from one orange drawing to the next, not even realizing that we were making our way through the ABC's until the last page. What a fun surprise!