Wordless Children's Books - An Art Form

By Kent Johnson


 

So what is a “wordless book?” A wordless book is a children’s book that’s almost entirely pictures and illustrations. The reader then supplies the language to accompany these all-picture books. Wordless children’s books are also sometimes referred to as “stories without words,” and they convey their meaning through their illustrations. This makes them ideal for young children who cannot read, but who can understand visual symbols and meanings.

As you might imagine, these wordless books can be a real challenge for the illustrator. Like a mime who has to convey all their meaning through facial expressions and gestures, a wordless book illustrator has to tell his or her story through illustrations, rather than words. And they also need to provide illustrations that are engaging and stimulating to the book’s young “readers.”

In a wordless children’s book, the story is told--wordlessly-- through a series of interconnected pictures or illustrations. Some of these books do use letter or numbers for learning purposes, or occasional short words or phrases. For example, “Animal Alphabet” by Bert Kitchen, is a large-format alphabet book that has roman letters adorned with exotic animals on each of its pages.

The Japanese are especially skilled in the art of wordless children’s books. The great Japanese master Mitsumasa Anno, for example, has produced such classics as “Anno’s Counting Book,” and “Anno’s Journey,” books with such extraordinary detail and complexity that many adults enjoy them as well.

This type of children’s book is great for stimulating the imaginations of toddlers, and older children benefit from them as well. The child is forced to provide his or her own narrative to go along with the illustrations, which is wonderful exercise for creative young minds. If the child is stuck, or doesn’t understand the concept, it’s important for the adult to provide a primer like “What do you think this means?” or “and then what happens?”

You’ll be amazed at how various children will come up with entirely different stories to go along with the same wordless book. No two child’s minds – or imaginations - are exactly the same, and these wonderful children’s books allow them to explore language and basic story structure in a way that’s unique to this medium.