(We are listening to Charlotte’s Web in the car these days, so I feel inspired to quote the wise Charlotte: “…with men it’s rush, rush, rush, every minute. Let’s talk about that haste for a minute. Repeated readings only deepen our experience, reveal things that our eyes-in our haste-missed the first time. On nearly every spread in Journey, Quest, and Return, there is mystery, intrigue, wonder, and confusion. Wordless books can help make close readers of our children, a vital skill for academic success at every grade level.Įspecially in the hands of a visual wizard like Becker, the reader is rewarded for every extra second he or she takes to study the pictures. I would argue that the value of wordless picture books extends well past the early-reading stage. When children are forced to extract a narrative from pictures alone, they become well versed at using visual clues to decode text. ( He’s picking up a fork, so that word must be “fork” there’s a grimace on his face as he’s eating, so that must mean the words are going to be about him not liking it). When children are learning to read-when they’re caught in that delicate balance of needing to cherish small successes but not fully versed in phonograms and sight words-they can look to pictures for valuable clues about what the text might be saying.

They can be an especially hard sell for parents, because what exhausted parent wants the pressure of making up a narrative when the relief of bedtime is so near? How can I read a book with no words? Can’t my kid just look at that on his own?įor starters, education researchers have long touted the value of wordless picture books as a tool for pre-literacy.

Aaron Becker’s Return (Ages 5-10) is the much-anticipated finale of a wordless trilogy about a girl, her red crayon, and the otherworldly adventures to which her art and her imagination transport her (I wrote about the first title, Journey, back in 2013, before it went on to win a Caldecott Honor). The kids and I tore open the box and quickly identified new installments in some of our favorite series (the new Princess in Black comes out in November, as well as the third in the “hat” stories by the dry-witted Jon Klassen both are fabulous).īut there was one book that-hands down!-got the loudest squeals and the highest jumps as soon as my kids laid eyes on it. Candlewick is one of my favorite publishers-also one of the most generous supporters of my blog-and the buzz in our house when one of their boxes arrives is akin to Christmas morning.

A few days before summer break ended, a giant box arrived from Candlewick publishing, containing a number of advance copies of fall releases.

Journey aaron becker pictures