Your Humble Blogger has had a couple of interesting conversations recently about wordless picture books. The local library is considering putting up a display, or perhaps a permanent section, and so the topic came up, and I thought I would ask my Gentle Readers for their suggestions.
There’s The Snowman, by Raymond Briggs, of course, and some of the David Wiesner books (Sector 7, Tuesday and Free Fall). There are books by John S. Goodall and Peter Sis, none of which I particularly like. Some of the Gabrielle Vincent books about Ernest and Celestine are wordless, and I like those a lot. And there’s David Macaulay—or do all his books have words? I’m wondering about Rome Antics and Shortcut, neither of which I have in front of me. And there’s Eric Rohmann’s Time Flies, which seems like a Wiesner knock-off, frankly, but not too bad at that.
My Perfect Non-Reader really liked Yellow Umbrella by Jae-Soo Liu, with a music CD by Dong Il Sheen that accompanied it. I just saw a very odd but lovely book by Molly Bangs called The Grey Lady and the Strawberry Snatcher, and Barbara Lehman’s The Red Book, which is a small red book about a small red book about a small red book...
Anyway, Gentle Readers, help me help my local librarian flesh out the list. What are the good ones? And if there’s something particularly good that just has a few words (such as Peggy Rathmann’s Goodnight, Gorilla) go ahead and throw it in, just for luck.
chazak, chazak, v’nitchazek,
-Vardibidian.
Well, it’s not a picture book (it’s a short film), but it is wordless, and it is amazing: Cat Soup. But definitely not for young children–it’s got some very odd imagery what with the metaphorical journey through the afterlife.
Which is to say, I look forward to all the wordless picture book recommendations I hope will come from this post (and of course, those which you yourself posted), because I can’t think of any.
How about Good Dog, Carl, by Alexandra Day? It’s only got a few words, on the first and last pages.
I don’t like the sequels, though.