The benefits of wordless books
Wordless books are a powerful tool for literacy promotion and development.
They have a number of benefits, including:
- They can invite more interaction and more complex discussion during book sharing, because parents are less bound by the text on the page.
- They can spark more parent elaborations, questions and feedback, more child contributions and more interaction than picture books with text.
- They support richer interactions about characters’ mental states.
- They develop children’s critical thinking, comprehension, creativity and expressive language. In South Africa, these skills are vastly underdeveloped in comparison with reading accuracy.
- They help primary school teachers build bridges between oral storytelling, “reading” illustrations and writing.
Books without words are particularly powerful in South Africa and other countries where many caregivers are not skilled readers or lack confidence to read aloud. Even illiterate caregivers can “read” a wordless book, which supports attachment and bonding. They can also transcend language barriers, and ensure all children are included in multilingual contexts.
What our partners say about wordless books
“These wordless books spark imagination and interest and are also open to interpretation by children who in most cases are not yet able to read on their own.”
Debbie Cockrell, Slovo Centre of Excellence and Toy Library
“We prefer the wordless books, as it takes the ‘threat’ of books away in environments where generational illiteracy exists.”
Natasha Miller, Siyazana Youth Development Fund
“We have seen the huge benefit of wordless picture books, especially when working in communities where parents’ literacy levels may be low. These books also encourage a lot of creativity and imagination for both parents and kids.”
Whitney Richardson, Kids Collab
“I enjoy wordless books for their encouragement of the use of imagination and storytelling – children have to use their own words to tell the story (using the picture prompts), rather than relying on what is written. My personal favourite is Tikky Boom Tish as I love this simple way of introducing music to young children.”
Candice McGregor, Thanda