By Lori

I’ve used wordless books in my classroom in a variety of ways. Often I just sit in a circle with the kids so everyone can see the illustrations,  read the title, and slowly, but silently begin turning the pages.

Inevitably, the kid’s facial expressions change as the story progresses. The giggles, moans, and nods start.  Then come the questions and comments. That’s what I’m looking for! I’m always trying to elicit language in my classroom of 5 and 6 year old language learners. Wordless books are a great way to do it.

Using wordless books sourced from other countries and cultures adds another dimension to the learning. My students notice differences in skin color, see children engaged in similar and different activities than the ones they do, and see differences in the settings. They learn language that can be used to discuss these things.

One of the wordless books below begins with a note from the author: “This book has no words, yet it has limitless stories to tell, ones that must be seen with your eyes and felt with your heart – stories that come from your imagination.”  Imagining how people from around the world would use the pictures in these books to tell a story different from your own would be an interesting exercise.

I hope you’ll give these wordless books from South American artists  a try!

Aquarium

Peering over the edge of a dock into another world, a girl dreams of swimming with the fish she sees when one leaps onto the perch where she sits. She captures the fish and races home to create the perfect aquarium for it using a variety of bottles, containers and tubes. When she attempts to swim with the fish in an inflatable pool and it escapes, she realizes the fish longs to be with others like itself, back in its natural habitat. 

With illustrations created using flat patterns, simple lines, and a palette of pinks, blues, and golds, Argentinian author and artist Cynthia Alonso explores what happens when humans try to contain the natural world. After reading, my daughters were able to talk about times they had caught an insect or small creature wanting to observe it, but ultimately making the decision to let it go.

I enjoyed the use of reflections, like the girl staring at her reflection in the water, the fish on the girl’s dress as a reflection of the underwater world she longs to be part of, and the way the girl must reflect on her choice to keep the fish as a playmate.

Migrants

Migrants, by Peruvian artist Issa Watanabe, wordlessly tells the story of a group of migrants fleeing from their homeland, traveling through woods, camping at night, traveling by small boat over treacherous water, and finally arriving at a place they could settle. All the while, death follows them in the form of a skeleton child wrapped in a bright floral blanket, taking members of the group. Also with them is a blue ibis, symbolic of balance, adaptability, unity, and courage in some South American cultures.

The brilliant colors of the highly detailed animals, set against the muted black and dark green background keeps the focus on the migrants. This, paired with the facial expressions seen on the animals, makes words seem unnecessary, and their use may have made the story less effective.

The use of animals in this narrative is compelling and made me question why an artist would choose to use animals rather than human characters in a story that is frequently playing out in the real world.

The Little Barbarian

Brazilian author/illustrator Renato Moriconi has created a whimsical celebration of childhood imagination in The Little Barbarian. 

On pages that are twice as tall as they are wide, we watch as a young man races towards a steed, mounts,  and takes off riding up and down through a series of potentially dangerous situations like leaping over a pit of snakes, leaping over spear laden cyclops, traversing a dragon’s fire breath   All the while the look on the man’s face is one of indifference, like he barely notices the peril he is in. It is not until the end that the man opens his eyes and looks dismayed as a set of giant arms come out of nowhere and scoop him up. On the final page, the one that makes my children smile every time we look at this book, readers see a man walking with a child away from a carousel, the horse the young man had been riding front and center.

It was my 7 year old who first noticed how the size of the book and the horse’s position on each page, alternating between top and bottom, mimic a carousel ride. The form and the content are perfectly aligned in this book.

The Carpenter 

As The Carpenter, by Brazilian artist Bruna Barros opens, the reader sees a young child staring at an electronic device connected to the wall by a long cord. An adult is working with a measuring tape and hand tools nearby. The tape measure catches the child’s attention, pulling him away from the screen into an imaginary world where the tape measure becomes the outline of things like a dinosaur, a car, a tree. When the adult finishes, the two sail off in the wooden boat the adult has made using the tape measure as a sail.

Immediately after reading this for the first time, my girls asked for a tape measure and ran off happily measuring and exploring. There are so many things that can be done with a measuring tape or a piece of string! Books like this inspire creativity and imagination, making them perfect for home and classroom use. 

This story also asks us to question what we are connected to, what we are giving our time to, and what matters most to us. 

About Lori

For over 3 years, Lori (from https://mykidsreadtheworld.wordpress.com/) has been reading stories from around the world with her two young daughters and the students in her classes. They have explored translation and learned a lot about the world. Besides reading she loves to cook, garden, and spend time at the beach. Her two cats love when she reads because they can curl up on her lap and snooze. Her husband spends his time trying to figure out how many more bookshelves the family is going to need over the next few years.