Using Wordless Books to Improve Reading Skills

July 29, 2010

Have you ever listened to a child tell you about something that happened during the day and it made no sense? One of the Every Child Ready to Read (ECRR) skills that I demonstrate during storytime is Narrative Skills. This skill refers to the ability to describe things and events, and tell stories. Children who master this skill learn to put things in sequence (i.e. what happened first, next, and last) and re-tell it to others.

MCPL has a collection of wordless books that can be used to improve or enhance this skill in your young children. As they gaze at the pictures, you can encourage them to tell you what’s happening in the story by asking questions about it. This is a great way for children to interact with you and with books.

To find wordless books in the card catalog, use the “Advanced Search” feature and choose the options shown in the example below:

If you want to search all branches, leave the Location set to ALL.

Here are the first five books you are likely to find on your list if you perform the search shown above:

JE PINKNEY         The lion & the mouse   
JE FALLER           Polo and the magician!
JE FALLER           Polo and the dragon
JE LEHMAN         Trainstop
JE LEE                Wave

The ECRR Narrative Skill and Vocabulary skill go hand-in-hand, so while your children are describing things they see, they are reinforcing or learning new words and ideas, too!  If you would like to know more about the six ECRR skills, keep checking our blog or come visit a weekly story-time. We meet every Thursday in the Children’s area from 10-11:00.

Happy reading!

Debbie A.