Written & Illustrated by Eric Rohmann
Children’s Picture Book: PreK-3
Stars: 4 (out of 5)
Summary: This story is about a mouse that has a friend rabbit. Wherever the rabbit goes, trouble follows.
This is a simple book that is not a wordless picture book, yet is very similar to one. There is a very simple story that is told with minimal words, and then the illustrations add to the understanding of the story and make it much more enjoyable. I say that it is similar to a wordless picture book because there are several pages that have no words at all, even though they tell a story. The story is told through those pictures. Thus, while the basis of the story is written, the author leaves a lot of the details for the reader to decide as the reader interprets the pages with just pictures and no words. Even with some words, the story in primarily told through the illustrations; the words just act as fillers to help us better understand the context of the story.
This would be a great book to use in the classroom when beginning to discuss and utilize wordless picture books. It gives emerging readers enough of an idea to “be able” to interpret the illustrations and create a cohesive story. It’s almost like a scaffolded wordless picture book. Thus, it would be a great means to help students understand how they can use wordless picture books. I would probably begin the lesson using this book to explore how important the illustrations can be in creating a story. If we were to only look at the text in this book, the story would be incomplete, and it is the pictures that really tell the story. I would help the students fill in or create the missing pieces of the story, then I would move onto a completely wordless book and model how I might read such a book. Ultimately, I would hope that my students could read wordless picture books and create a story of their own to go along.
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