One of the things I used to love about working in bookstores was when new boxes arrived from publishers. It was like Christmas every month, the anticipation and the joy of finding out what was inside.

Now I get that feeling when I walk into a bookshop to see what is new on the shelves and also when I’m browsing the internet, checking out other peoples blogs for new and exciting books.

A couple of days a go I came across Suzy Lee on Amazon. The book is Wave and it is wordless.

Suzy Lee is amazing and I must now have Wave on my bookshelf; have a look at her website here to learn more about this very gorgeous artist.

Wordless picture books are of course an art because the whole story must be conveyed convincingly in the illustrations. They are very important in education for prompting children to learn how to interpret stories and also to recognise a beginning, middle and end in story telling. Wordless books are great at home as well; younger children can enjoy explaining what is happening in the illustrations and older children can take it further by imagining alternate endings and additional plot lines. Wordless picture books are rewarding.

weheartbooks top 5 wordless picture books

1. Up and Up (Shirley Hughes)

I love Shirley Hughes and one of my favorite books as a child was Dogger, or David and the Dog as it is known in the USA (I’ll post about that one another time). She is one of the best known children’s author/illustrators in the world. Set out in comic strip style Up and Up consists of black line drawings against a sepia background. The story of a little girl who longs to fly, it is purely magical as you follow her journey: she gets her wish and off she goes up and up. Her personality is infectious and she always makes me smile as she drifts along until she is finally rescued by a man in a hot air balloon. There is so much to look at in this book which makes it a great tool for encouraging children to make up their own stories. It doesn’t even have to be about the main character, you could make up different stories for the others she meets along the way. Ages 3+

2. The Arrival (Shaun Tan)

Well I just think this award winning book is incredible, in fact Shaun Tan is incredible. The Arrival depicts the journey of a man who leaves home for a strange, fantastical land in order to support his family. The hundreds of drawings Tan worked on for this stunning book are partly a reflection of his own father’s journey to Australia and his struggle to fit into an alien culture. More than a book The Arrival is an awe-inspiring artwork; every time I pick it up I find new and amazing elements that I had missed before. Ages 8+

3. The Snowman (Raymond Briggs)

Regarded as a cult classic this picture book tells a story in pictures - 175 frames to be exact - of the one night friendship of a boy and his snowman. The boy lovingly creates the man out of snow and when he looks out of his window that night he discovers the snowman is alive. They take each other on a tour of their worlds, the boy of his house and the snowman of his wintery world. In the morning when the boy wakes up the snowman is gone, he has melted and all that is left are pieces of coal. This book is all about the joy of exploring and discovering new things, it is about new friendships and then the fond memories of those friendships. This book really does give children the opportunity to imagine their own ending to the story. 4+

4. Sunshine and Moonlight (Jan Omerod)

These are favorites of mine from childhood, I can remember borrowing them from the school library numerous times. In the last few years they have been re-published and are just as beautiful as I remember them way back in primary school. Sunshine follows the progression of a little girl’s day as she gets up out of bed and begins her daily routine. My favorite scenes are when she hops into bed with her parents while they read their morning papers; everyone in this house has a routine and they all fit into each other’s. Toddlers can compare their routine in the morning before childcare/preschool with this little girl’s. Jan includes so much detail that this is perfect for beginning discussion with children about their own routines. Sunshine won the Australian Children’s Book of the Year Award in 1982. Moonlight is similar to Sunshine but of course follows the routine on the other end of the day; cleaning teeth, bathtime and bed. Ages 2+

5. Tuesday (David Wiesner)

Reading Tuesday is like watching an M. Night Shyamalan film; it is weird, quirky, funny and enthralling. On this particular Tuesday around 8 in the evening a strange thing begins to happen, suddenly frogs/toads start to invade the town levitating on lily pads and seemingly having a great time. The frogs eventually return to their rightful homes BUT the big surprise is what is going to happen on the following Tuesday? Tuesday won the prestigious Caldecott Medal and Wiesner’s amazing speech is here. I love this quote from that speech

Fortunately, kids know funny when they see it. If, after reading Tuesday one evening before bed, they look out the window and see frogs flying by—well, we should all be so lucky.

Wiesner’s art is incredible and I can guarantee that parents will love this as much as their children. Ages 4+

Although we have used some very classic choices here there is also room for a special mention for the fantastic wordless books by wonderful Australian illustrator Gregory Rogers, The Boy, the Bear, the Baron and the Bard and sequel Midsummer Knight. Ages 6+

Ned’s daddy and I actually sat down to watch a film together last night, something we haven’t done for ages. The film was beautiful and one of the best screen versions of a book I have seen in a long time. The film was Bridge to Terabithia based on the Katherine Paterson novel of the same name published long ago in 1977. I vividly remember studying this novel in about Year 7 (long ago!) and I also remember that it was the first book I had read that really made me cry so passionately for the characters. The film also made me cry but don’t think this is a sad film! It is also an amazing story of friendship, imagination and strength; the sadness is an integral part of the story but it is brilliantly handled. The performances of the children as 10 year olds Jess and Leslie are perfect and it also features one of my favorite actresses, the stunning Zooey Deschanel as the children’s arty music teacher. Before I saw the film I was concerned that the trailers contained too much computer generated imagery of the imaginary Terabithians, however this wasn’t so in the feature and I felt it was done very tastefully to give the film a currency without being too scary or bizarre. It was so lovely in fact that I would give it 5 out of 5 on The Movie Show and I’m definitely going to keep a copy for the time when Ned and I can sit and watch together.

Paterson’s original novel won the 1978 Newbery Medal, an award given by the American Library Association for outstanding children’s literature. What I didn’t know is that the book was actually on the challenged books list in the US because people took offence to the fact that Jess says “Lord” sometimes outside of prayer and also because they believed that the book encouraged satanic magic. How far have we come when very recently people have objected to the Harry Potter books for the same reason. Although Bridge to Terabithia is 30 years old as a novel its concepts have not dated and this wonderful movie has successfully given it a new life.

There are many more movies based on children’s books that just have been and are just about to be released. Of course there is Horton Hears A Who based on probably the nicest character created by Dr. Seuss. Horton is a lovable elephant who discovers the city of Whoville on a microscopic speck of dust attached to a flower. Horton is the only one who can hear the Whos of Whoville and so sets about protecting them from their enemies. The trouble is that in Horton’s world there are laws that prevent anyone believing in anything they cannot see or hear. The reviews for this animated version of the Seuss picture book have been fantastic, which is great considering the other films of his books have been flops - although I did like The Grinch. The Age/SMH gave it a tremendous review. I love the similarities between original Horton and 2008 Horton in the pictures below…

The film I really want to see, desperately, is The Spiderwick Chronicles. Based on the 5 book series by Holly Black and illustrated by the amazing Tony DiTerlizzi in which Jarod, Simon and Mallory Grace find a mysterious old book which allows them entry into a world filled with Goblins, Pixies, Trolls and other fantastical creatures. The trailers for this film look incredible and it is also getting wonderful reviews from sources like Variety. Actor Freddie Highmore (Charlie in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) plays both Jarod and Simon Grace as they are identical twins; I can’t wait to see how they have managed that.

About to be released is Nim’s Island based on the lovely intermediate novel by Australian author Wendy Orr, first published in 1999 and illustrated by Kerry Millard. The film was shot on the Gold Coast and on Hinchenbrook Island, North Queensland. I loved reading Nim because she is such a strong female character, living on a deserted island with all her animal friends; she is like a more modern Pippi Longstocking. The father of Nim (Abigail Breslin from Little Miss Sunshine) is missing and she is alone until by fate her favorite author (Jodie Foster) a recluse from New York is washed up on the island. Together they must find the courage to prevail over their fears and track down Nim’s dad.

Relating to this post and about the Where the Wild Things Are movie there is a great article from The Age today written by Thornton McCamish about children’s love of scary stories in both literature and film.