Some picture books have no text, only pictures. In wordless picture books, the story is told solely through images. Because of this, authors/illustrators of wordless picture books must be especially good not only at telling an interesting story but also at creating expressive, captivating characters capable of holding the reader's attention and fueling their imagination.
One of the best known and most successful author of wordless picture books is
David Wiesner, whose most recent work "Flotsam" was the winner of the 2007 Caldecott Medal. I saw him speak about working on "Flotsam" at SCBWI's conference earlier this year and it was truly inspiring!
Here's another wordless book that I simply love: "A day, a dog" by
Gabrielle Vincent was published in the U.S. in 1995 and it's still one of my all-time favorites. Telling the story of an abandoned dog using simple pencil drawings on a white background, this is a moving and ultimately uplifting story that stays with you long after you've read it.
Awesome post-- thanks for sharing this.
ReplyDeleteSo pleased you are posting picture books on your blog, I'm such a fan of them. I've been buying a few of my favourites over the last couple of years on the pretext of giving them to my friends children for Christmas presents, so far that hasn't happened!
ReplyDeleteHave you seen books by the wonderful Oliver Jeffers (Lost and Found, The Incredible Book Eating Boy...) Not sure if you can get them in the US but you can find him on Amazon :)
I love David Wiesner’s work. I don’t get a chance to hang out in the children’s book section as much as I would like and I didn’t know he came out with a new book. I’ll have to check it out and Gabrielle Vincent’s book as well. Thanks for letting us know!
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