Fossil by Bill Thomson

Bill Thomson is back with another brilliant wordless picture book.  In Fossil a boy and his dog are near a lake where they discover a rock.  This rock is not just any rock but rather a fossil of an ancient plant that comes to life.  The boy breaks open two more rocks and two more come to life.  Things change from amazement to fear when one of those fossils takes the boy's dog for a ride.The boy must figure out a way to save his dog. A great wordless picture book (like his other book Chalk) for older students to enjoy.

Illustrations:  5 Buckeye leaves

A Ball For Daisy by Chris Raschka

Yesterday AM I hit refresh MANY times on the computer.....big day for us book addicts.....the announcing of the ALA awards at the midwinter meeting. This years Caldecott went to Chris Raschka's a Ball For Daisy. In this wordless picture book the dog Daisy has a red ball that she appears to like very much. However the ball is damaged and thrown away. Daisy is noticeably upset when the ball is gone. Only on thing can cheer her up. A great book to get kids thinking and writing (or verbalizing) their own words to go with the pictures. Kids will love Daisy and be able to identify with the SAD Daisy when the ball is thrown away!

Click here for an article about his book!

Hocus Pocus by Sylvie Desrosiers & Remy Simard

"Mister Magic" and his dog return from a trip to the grocery store and soon are both napping just as the "rabbit in the top hat" jumps out. The rabbit is ready for a snack - the carrots sitting on the kitchen counter. After repeated failed attempts, usually caused by the dog, the rabbit finally enjoys the carrot, while the dog is put outside. A great wordless picture book for middle elementary students. The book provides a great opportunity for students to laugh while using thinking skills to unlock the storyline. Hilarious and somewhat reminiscent of Tom and Jerry....

Illustrations: 4 Buckeye leaves

Red Sled by Lita Judge

Red Sled by Lita Judge is an adorable adventure on a red sled. A child returns to a cabin surrounded by snow, leaving a red sled outside. Soon a bear sees the red sled an the adventure begins. The bear is soon joined by other animals on this downhill adventure. Using limited words, which I personally love as it requires the reader to fill in the blanks and decide what is happening on their own, the adventure is filled with excitement and fun! Red Sled slightly reminds me of Ten on the Sled by Kim Norman, another fun filled animal adventure which students love. Lovely pictures with great, at times funny, animal expressions!

Overall: 5 Buckeye leaves

Author/illustrator website click HERE!

Animals Home Alone by Loes Riphagen

The "story" begins on the front endpages with the identification of the characters. Turn the page to the title page and you see a girl and her father, with bag, walking through a gate while in the front window of the house there is a cat watching them leave. After that the party begins! The animals, even the bear in the picture on the wall, come to life and start having some fun. Go through the book a few times and you will quickly realize how many different "stories" are going on. Did you notice how much the pig ate? Or where did the goldfish in the flower vase come from? What did happen to the dog's shoe? Bet you did not notice the snail....took me about 5 times before I saw him moving....and he moves slow!! Endless possibilities in this book which could span the grade levels - writing activities, sequencing, memory recall. Lots of fun, fun stuff!!

Illustrations: 5 Buckeye leaves - Hilarious!
Endpages: 5 Buckeye leaves

Uh-Oh by Mary Newell DePalma

Move over Alexander (as in Alexander and the Terrible, No Good Very Bad Day) here comes a little dinosaur who seems to encounter trouble every way he goes. From knocking over block tower his siblings constructed to a knocked over plant to a dishwasher with bubbles everywhere, this little dinosaur is having a rough day! The basically wordless book, other than "uh-oh", pushes students to think and figure out what is happening on each page. The 3 1/2 year old here loved it. A great exercise for kids of all ages!

Overall: 5 Buckeye leaves

Check out the trailer by clicking HERE!


AND while visiting Mary Newell DePalma's site....check out the GREAT puppets and coloring sheets to go with the book! LOVE LOVE LOVE when authors/illustrators help us out like that!!!! The kids love to have something that goes "with" the book!

The Secret Box by Barbara Lehman

Barbara Lehman's wordless picture book The Secret Box begins with a young boy, dressed in knickers, placing a box under a floor board. As the pages continue, it appears this floor board is in a large yellow house or school. It appears to be in a rural area. As the reader continues on to the next spread, the building remains the same but the area around the yellow building is now full of buildings with smokestacks, and horse drawn carriages. The next page again shows the yellow house but this time there are more modern cars. From here the focus shifts from the building and time passing, to focus on children that have discovered the same box the boy many pages back. Using the items in the box and some very careful detective skills, the children take off on adventure that will lead them to a special destination, with special people to meet. A great book for kids to work on drawing conclusions and making inferences.

Story: 4 Buckeye Leaves, though younger kids are going to need lots of discussion to understand
illustrations: 5 Buckeye leaves

Where's Walrus? Stephen Savage

In this wordless picture book the walrus has escaped from the zoo and the zookeeper is in hot pursuit! The walrus hides throughout the city in hopes of finding a new "occupation". Young kids will find the walrus's choices funny as they guess where he will turn up next.

Preview video is available at bn.com

Story: 4 Buckeye leaves
Illustration: 5 Buckeye leaves