I’m a huge fan of wordless (or nearly wordless) picture books for one big reason: you can read them to your child in whatever language strikes your fancy. Unlike books in English or Slovak, I don’t have to worry about translating the story. And I can choose how long to make the story last, depending on how much detail I go into in describing the images. My kids really enjoy these books and they love that they can ‘read’ them all by themselves, without having to worry they’re missing a vital part of the narrative in the text. They also like finding new things to talk about on each page, like a funny background detail we hadn’t noticed before.
That being said, Mr. OneDosTres dislikes wordless books–there’s not as much structure to the story and he’s sometimes not sure how to ‘read’ what’s on the page. So they definitely aren’t everyone’s jam. But I encourage you to give them a try! (This post contains affiliate links.)
Mr. Wuffles
This is the story of ant-sized aliens who land among Mr. Wuffles’ toys and find themselves the center of his attention. They are forced to leave their ship and encounter house bugs, with whom they work to outsmart the cat. What I most love about this book is how the story changes depending on who I read it to–E loves it because it’s about a bored and playful cat, while N loves it because it involves aliens working together with insects to outwit a common threat.
Continue reading “5 Books You Can Read In Any Language”
