The Importance of Wordless Picture Books

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"Fill your house with stacks of books, in all the crannies and all the nooks." — Dr. Seuss Children’s pictures books are a staple in every young person’s life, from Dr. Seuss to Maurice Sendak. They shape thoughts, values, provide life lessons, and open them to cultures and experiences they may never get a change to be a part of. Many times, the story has been passed down orally for centuries, before being put to paper. They connect generations to each other. And they manage to do all of this through all entertaining characters and vibrant colors. Their words encourage development in learning, and their stories stimulate the imagination. However, in recent decades a new category of books has emerged on the market: wordless picture books. These have become a growing trend in today’s society. There is debate amongst scholars, teachers, and parents as to whether or not these books stimulate imagination, language skills, and literacy skills, as much as a book with words would. Wordless children’s books are beneficial to today’s children, and can provide unique insight into the way their imagination works, and a look into their developmental processes. Using pictures to tell stories is not a new concept; it has been used for thousands of years to tell the story of a tribe or nation. Nor is it a new idea for babies, they are given “books” with pictures, that may have cloth pages or different textures to represent different animals. What is new, however, is the use of such pictures in the format of a book, and one that is presented to older children. This new genre appeared approximately eighty-two years ago and the first wordless picture book, according to Jacalyn Eddy in her book Creating an Empire in Children’s Book Publishing, ... ... middle of paper ... ...06. Print. Fagerlie, Anna M. "Using Wordless Picture Books with Children." Elementary English 52: 92- 94. Web. Apr. 2014. Jalongo, Mary Renck, Denise Dragich, Natalie K. Conrad, and Ann Zhang. "Using Wordless Picture Books to Support Emergent Literacy." Early Childhood Education Journal. Vol. 29: 167-170. Web. Apr. 2014. Kümmerling-Meibauer, Bettina , and Jörg Meibauer. "First Pictures, Early Concepts: Early Concept Books." The John Hopkins University Press: The Lion and the Unicorn 29: 324- 347. Web. Apr. 2014. Lysaker, Judith T., and Angela Miller. "Engaging social imagination: The developmental work of wordless book reading." Journal of Early Childhood Literacy 13: 147-174. Web. Apr. 2014. Lysaker, Judith T. "Young children's readings of wordless picture books: What's 'self' got to do with it?". Journal of Early Childhood Literacy 6: 33-55. Web. Apr. 2014.

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