The Best Wordless Books

You already know the story. This is the fable of the lion who spares a field mouse, never thinking that the same mouse would soon save his life from the hunter's snare.

Despite the familiar story, this wordless book is a treasure. The illustrations are rich and expressive. There are some tender additions to the traditional tale. For example, the mouse goes home to her nest full of baby mice. Those pages of mother (or father?) mouse talking to the baby mices are great opportunities for creative expression. What did the parent mouse say to her babies?

The illustrations of this book are highly detailed, giving you lots to pore over visually. In the story, a girl and her grandmother visit the Metropolitan Musueum of Art while the girls balloon goes on a riotous adventure outside. 

The chaos the balloon causes parallels the art that the girl sees in side the museum. It's a lot of fun to find the similarities in the outrageous situations that occur with the balloon and the fine art in the museum.

Having just been the Met a few months ago, my daughter and I recognized several works of art and galleries inside the Met. It was fun to make those connections with this picture book.

A girl waiting at a city bus stop watches the sidewalk circus that appears before her. But this circus relies heavily on her imagination. Fueled by signs advertising different acts in a coming circus, the girl sees the acts on the busy city street right before her eyes.

I liked this book more than my daughter. I thought it was really clever how the different circus performers were portayed through the urban workers. This book does rely on a certain amount of words -- the captions on the circus posters.