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    The Children's Book Review

    Top 5 Wordless Books: Five Family Favorites with Laura Marx Fitzgerald

    Guest PostsBy Guest Posts5 Mins Read Ages 0-3 Ages 4-8 Ages 9-12 Best Kids Stories Book Lists
    10 Minutes till Bedtime By Peggy Rathmann
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    Laura Marx Fitzgerald | The Children’s Book Review | July 16, 2014

    It may seem strange for a writer to gravitate towards wordless narratives. Maybe, like many writers, I’m insecure and avoid great writing out of jealousy? Or maybe I’m just in awe of the ability to tell a complex, engaging story without the need for words of any kind. I’ve found that the best of these books spoke to my kids when they were pre-readers, but still continue to draw them back again and again, as they uncover more in the multilayered stories. My husband and I love them too.

    So without further ado, here are the Fitzgerald family’s Top 5 Wordless Books:

    Pancakes for Breakfast By Tomie dePaolaPancakes for Breakfast

    By Tomie dePaolo

    This was our family’s first wordless discovery. I think I picked up the paperback for a plane trip, thinking the pictures would occupy my then 18-month-old daughter. What developed was a rhythmic routine of our own, where we named the nameless heroine (Dotty), made dog, cat, cow, and chicken sounds, and threw up our hands and exclaimed “NO MILK! NO EGGS!”

    As time went on, we talked about how to churn butter and where milk, eggs, and maple syrup come from. We discussed how the neighbors might have felt when Dotty barged in and ate their pancakes. We made pancakes of our own. I never would have guessed a simple series of pictures could have prompted so many conversations and learning opportunities.

    So we went looking for more wordless books . . .

    Ages 4-7 | Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers | Apr. 3, 1978 | ISBN-13: 978-0156707688

    10 Minutes till Bedtime By Peggy RathmannTen Minutes till Bedtime

    By Peggy Rathmann

    Here’s the sign of a great picture book: when parents look forward to re-reading (and re-reading and re-reading) it every night, because there is always a new detail to discover. Nearly wordless, except for the minute by minute countdown to bedtime, the story follows one boy and a cast of hamster thousands who crash his nightly routine. The book is genuinely funny, and I could study each page for hours. (It goes without saying that we loved Good Night, Gorilla too.)

    Ages 2-6 | Publisher: Putnam Juvenile | Sept. 28, 1998 | ISBN-13: 978-0399231032

    Flotsam By David WiesnerFlotsam

    By David Wiesner

    This may be my favorite picture book, hands down. A boy at the Jersey Shore finds an old-timey camera on the beach. When he develops the film (at a one-hour photo shop — remember those?), he finds evidence of a magical underwater world and a string of fellow discoverers stretching around the world and back in time. I love the way the book moves from realistic fiction to fantasy to historical fiction. And I’m a sucker for any story where a kid makes a earth-shattering discovery with no parents around to guide or meddle.

    Ages 4-8 | Publisher: Clarion Books | Sept. 4, 2006 | ISBN-13: 978-0618194575

    Robot Dreams By Sara VaronRobot Dreams

    By Sara Varon

    My kids area little older now, both in elementary school, and their interest in wordless books is leading them to graphic novels. They both love Sara Varon, whose wordless picture books (Chicken and Cat, Chicken and Cat Clean Up) still capture them. In her graphic novel Robot Dreams, a pink dog sends away for and builds his own robot, then leaves him to rust on a beach all winter. To be honest, I find the book a little weird and sad, but my kids love it, which always reminds me not to weed out the books that are weird and sad.

    Ages 8-12 | Publisher: First Second | Aug. 7, 2007 | ISBN-13: 978-1596431089

    Mr. Wuffles! (Caldecott Medal - Honors Winning Title(s)) By David WiesnerMr. Wuffles!

    By David Wiesner

    Okay, so this is a cheat. But David Wiesner is the king of wordless picture books, so how could I choose just one? These four books get heavy library rotation, enjoyed by all ages. And Mr. Wuffles, while not technically and entirely wordless, does have the much quoted line: “What’s so interesting, Mr. Wuffles?”, which gets repeated ad nauseum in our house.

    Ages 4-8 | Publisher: Clarion Books | October 8, 2013 | ISBN-13: 978-0618756612

    About the Author
    author Laura Marx Fitzgerald photographed here by David Fitzgerald
    Laura Marx Fitzgerald

    Laura Marx Fitzgerald is a longtime copywriter. In writing Under the Egg, she drew on her study of art history at Harvard and Cambridge Universities. Her non-fiction gift book, If at First: How Great People Turned Setbacks Into Great Success, was published by Andrews McMeel in 2004. This is her middle grade debut.

    lauramarxfitzgerald.com | facebook | twitter | goodreads

    About Under the Egg

    Under the Egg by Laura Marx FitzgeraldWhen her Theodora Tenpenny spills a bottle of rubbing alcohol on her late grandfather’s painting, she discovers what seems to be an Old Master painting underneath. That’s great news for Theo, who’s struggling to hang onto her family’s two-hundred-year-old Greenwich Village townhouse and support her unstable mother on her grandfather’s legacy of $463. There’s just one problem: her grandfather was a security guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Theo worries the painting may be stolen. With the help of some unusual new friends, Theo’s search for answers takes her all around New York City, and introduces her to a side of the city—and her grandfather—that she never knew. To solve the mystery, she’ll have to abandon her hard-won self-reliance and build a community, one serendipitous friendship at a time.

    Ages 8-12 | Publisher: Dial | Mar. 18, 2014 | ISBN-13: 978-0803740013

    Add this book to your collection: Under the Egg, by Laura Marx Fitzgerald

    What to Read Next:

    1. Best New Kids Books | May 2016
    2. 34 of the Best Picture Books of 2019, so Far
    3. Best New Kids’ Christmas Books | 2014
    4. Best New Kids Stories | June 2015

    *Disclosure: Please note that this post may contain affiliate links that share some commission. Rest assured that these will not affect the cost of any products and services promoted here. Our team always provides their authentic opinion in all content published on this site.

    Clarion Books David Wiesner Dial books Family Favorites First Second HMH Books for Young Readers Laura Marx Fitzgerald Peggy Rathmann Putnam Juvenile books Sara Varon Tomie dePaola Wordless Books
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    The Children’s Book Review, named one of the ALSC (Association for Library Service to Children) Great Web Sites for Kids, is a resource devoted to children’s literacy. We publish reviews and book lists of the best books for kids of all ages. We also produce author and illustrator interviews and share literacy based articles that help parents, grandparents, teachers and librarians to grow readers. This article was written and provided by a guest author.

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