Wordless Picturebooks for the English Language Classroom Introduced by Alyssa Lowery

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This issue of Recommended Reads highlights the power of visual narrative to foster deep engagement, language development, and intercultural understanding. At first glance, texts without written words may seem an unlikely fit for the English language classroom, yet their silence is precisely what makes them so powerful: they invite readers to slow down, observe, and build meaning together. Without written text to guide or limit interpretation, readers must rely on their own expressive and interpretive skills to co-create story, making these picturebooks natural catalysts for language use, imagination, and dialogue.

As Louie and Sierschynski observe, ‘because they remove the language input, wordless picture books allow [English learners] to share the critical experience of engaging with a visual text. The perceived freedom to participate in shared viewing of wordless picture books leads to a deeper engagement and guides the [English learners] to access more layers of meaning’ (2015, p. 104). In these shared acts of viewing, language becomes embodied in gesture, inference, and conversation so that meaning emerges not from the page alone, but from the collaborative work of readers.

Evelyn Arizpe’s research reminds us that readers bring their cultural and personal histories to visual texts, and that discussion allows those perspectives to meet and expand (Arizpe, Colomer, & Martínez-Roldán, 2014). Frank Serafini (2014) likewise frames picturebook reading as a multimodal transaction between image, reader and design that develops both visual and narrative literacy. For teachers of English, such transactions open new pedagogical possibilities: classrooms become spaces where looking and speaking intertwine, curiosity fuels communication, and interpretation is a shared act of discovery.

The recommendations in this issue demonstrate the range and richness of wordless storytelling. Each offers a distinct invitation to cross borders, to reflect, to wonder, or to see. Together they remind us that literacy is not only about reading words, but about reading the world with curiosity and care. These picturebooks ask learners and teachers alike to look closely, to question generously, and to imagine the connections that flow between languages, landscapes, and lives.

References

Arizpe, E., Colomer, T., & Martínez-Roldán, C. (Eds.). (2014). Visual journeys through wordless narratives: An international inquiry with immigrant children and the arrival. Bloomsbury Academic.

Louie, B., & Sierschynski, J. (2015). Enhancing English learners’ development using wordless picture books. The Reading Teacher, 69(1), 103–111. https://doi.org/10.1002/trtr.1376

Serafini, F. (2014). Exploring wordless picture books. The Reading Teacher, 68(1), 24–26. https://doi.org/10.1002/trtr.1294

 

Lee, Suzy (2002)

Alice in Wonderland

Mantova, Italy: Corraini Edizioni

Recommended by Fuling Deng

Efforts to enhance realism, interactivity, and artificial intelligence in today’s media landscape produce ever more convincing illusions of reality that blur the line between real and simulated experiences. Without explicit training, young readers risk becoming passive consumers of these illusions. Children need to learn to interact with texts in more informed ways, recognizing that the reality presented is essentially a fictional construction. Metafictive picturebooks, those that deliberately disturb the illusion of realism and prompt readers to reflect on how fiction works, are particularly valuable in this respect. They foreground their own fictional status and invite readers to question how meaning is crafted through multimodal semiotic resources (Waugh, 1984, p. 3). Studies in critical and media literacy indicate that the interplay between fiction and reality in metafictive picturebooks encourages children to adopt a critical stance towards the authenticity of texts, preparing them to navigate other information sources (e.g., Flores-Koulish & Smith-D’Arezzo, 2016). In the classroom, this capacity of metafiction fosters broader awareness of how narratives and media shape our understanding of the world and enriches language practice by giving students opportunities to articulate and debate their thoughts on the relationship between texts and reality. Sylvia Pantaleo’s empirical research shows that primary students gained insights into how stories work through engagement with metafictive picturebooks (Pantaleo, 2007), and some students applied these understandings in their own creations (Pantaleo, 2010).

South Korean illustrator Suzy Lee’s debut wordless picturebook, Alice in Wonderland (2002), is a relatively little-known work, yet it holds significant importance in her artistic career and has greatly influenced her later, more widely recognized Border trilogy. The story begins with a stage where Alice chases the White Rabbit, just like in Lewis Carroll’s classic tale, and falls into Wonderland. Lee brings this fantastical world to life using a mix of real-life elements: photographs, miniatures, paintings, and everyday objects, captured through photography and edited into a black-and-white sequence. The true-to-life visual representations and factual existences draw readers into the story. However, as pages turn, the view gradually pulls back to reveal the theatrical scenes as staged within the fireplace of a modern apartment, ultimately dismantled by the homeowner. A hand even appears to turn the book page, blurring boundaries further. Scenes are nested within one another, creating a sense that another reality exists just beyond the frame and prompting readers to ponder where the story itself truly takes place. In addition to shifts in visual distance and framing, gradual changes in artistic media and colours also ‘construct’ a fictional illusion and ‘lay [it] bare’ (Waugh, 1984, p. 6). This dual process constantly leads readers to question their perceptions of reality in the story, revealing the unreliable, performative, and constructed nature of mimetic illusions the reader encounters. Through its layered, recursive, and self-revealing narrative, this picturebook creates a sense of both familiarity and surrealism, grounding readers in reality, yet leaving them with a sense of illusion. It demonstrates how metafiction can make visible the instability of seemingly naturalized truths, a lesson that is urgently relevant in our saturated media environment.

For language education, Suzy Lee’s Alice in Wonderland offers multiple possibilities. First, since the book draws on a classic of English literature, teachers can pair it with excerpts from the original text or film adaptations to encourage comparative reading. Second, students need to use language to name, connect, and interpret visual cues, a process that naturally fosters both speaking and writing practice. Finally, through its metafictional strategies that disrupt the illusion of storytelling, the book invites learners to question, rather than simply consume, the texts and media that shape their understanding of the world.

 

Bibliography

Lee, Suzy (2002). Alice in Wonderland. Corraini Edizioni.

 

References

Flores-Koulish, S. A., & Smith-D’Arezzo, W. M. (2016). The three pigs: Can they blow us into critical media literacy old school style? Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 30(3), 349–360. https://doi.org/10.1080/02568543.2016.1178673

Pantaleo, S. (2007). Scieszka’s The stinky cheese man: A tossed salad of parodic re-versions. Children’s Literature in Education, 38, 277–295.

Pantaleo, S. (2010). Developing narrative competence through reading and writing metafictive texts. Literacy Research and Instruction, 49(3), 264–281. https://doi.org/10.1080/19388070903100324

Waugh, P. (1984). Metafiction: The theory and practice of self-conscious fiction. Routledge.

 

 

Fuling Deng received her PhD in Education from the University of Glasgow. She also holds a M.Ed in Children’s Literature and Literacies and a BA in Early Childhood Education. Her doctoral research focuses on teachers’ response to picturebooks and their potential in primary education, but her research interests extend to postmodern picturebooks, Asian picturebooks, and intermediality. Her latest three publications can be found in Children’s Literature in Education.

Baker, Jeannie (2010)

Mirror

Walker Books

Recommended by Artemis Papailia

Jeannie Baker is an English-born, Australia-based artist whose picturebooks are recognized for collages constructed from fabric, sand, and natural materials. Her works frequently explore ecological and social themes. Mirror (2010) uses a French-door format to present two parallel stories that prompt reflection on cultural difference and human connectedness.

Before the visual narrative begins, a bilingual note in English and Arabic, facing each other, introduces two families – one in Australia, one in Morocco – whose lives differ yet overlap. This peritextual element frames intercultural dialogue through its dual-language presentation. Once the parallel stories commence, Baker withdraws verbal guidance, leaving the images to convey meaning autonomously and in parallel. On the left is an Australian family in Sydney; on the right, a Moroccan family in the Valley of Roses. Each paired spread juxtaposes daily routines such as shopping, working, preparing meals, returning home. The Australian family is surrounded by Western suburban life, like cars, supermarkets, renovation while the Moroccan family’s environment reflects traditions of the Eastern countries, such as weaving, open-air markets, extended family networks. The reading directions themselves mirror the dominant scripts of English and Arabic, so cultural difference is articulated both in the images and in the structure of reading. In the final spreads, two artefacts connect the families: the rug woven in Morocco and later placed in the Australian home, and the computer purchased with the proceeds of its sale. The Australian boy’s drawing of the rug as a flying carpet recalls Aladdin from the collection The Arabian Nights, while opposite, the Moroccan boy uses the new computer, its screen displaying the image of Earth. These closing images demonstrate how symbolic motifs, and contemporary artefacts mediate intercultural understanding.

Mirror is well suited to elementary students (ages 7–11) who can recount events and begin reflecting on cultural similarities and differences. Activities such as scripting dialogues or diary entries support interpretation, while Louie and Sierschynski (2015) highlight their value for English learners developing oral language through collaborative meaning-making. The book also supports intercultural activities. Students might compare the bilingual introduction with their own contexts and write a third preface. They could create ‘mirror maps’ of their daily lives alongside the families, or trace the journeys of the rug and the computer to debate globalization and cultural value.

In this respect, Baker’s wordless picturebook enacts the threefold function of children’s literature outlined by Bishop (1990): a ‘mirror’ reflecting readers’ lives, a ‘window’ onto the experiences of others, and a ‘sliding glass door’ through which they may imaginatively enter alternative worlds.

 

Bibliography

Baker, Jeannie. (2010). Mirror. Walker Books Ltd.

 

References

Bishop, R. S. (1990). Mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors. Perspectives: Choosing and Using Books for the Classroom, 6(3), ix–xi.

Louie, B., & Sierschynski, J. (2015). Enhancing English learners’ language development using wordless picture books. The Reading Teacher, 69(1), 103–111. https://doi.org/10.1002/trtr.1376

 

Artemis Papailia is a postdoctoral researcher and adjunct lecturer at the Democritus University of Thrace, where she teaches courses on children’s literature and picturebook theory, and also lectures at the University of West Attica. Her research interests focus on wordless picturebooks, transactional theories and the teaching of literature in early childhood education. Recent publications include chapters in The Ocean of Stories (Turgeon, 2024) and Cultural Perspectives on Sweets in Children’s Literature and Media (Planka & Löwe, 2025).

Oswald, Pete (2020)

Hike

Walker Books

Recommended by Marthe Celine Johansen

The wordless picturebook Hike (2020), illustrated by Pete Oswald, tells a gentle and moving story of a parent and child team who journey into the mountains. The gentle, expressive illustrations depict their day together as they prepare, travel, and ultimately plant a tree on a mountaintop before returning home. When they later look through a photo album filled with pictures of others planting trees, readers sense that the duo have taken part in a cherished family tradition that connects generations through care for nature and for one another.

The book captures the beauty of the outdoors, the emotional bond between parent and child, and the joy of contributing to environmental sustainability. The neutral depiction of the child’s gender and absence of written text invite discussion and imaginative interpretation. Questions like ‘Who are the people in the photos?’ or ‘What would the story sound like if it were told in words?’ might prompt visual analysis, opening a pathway for linguistic engagement.

Hike is suitable for children in primary school working towards deep engagement with literature by encouraging students to be co-creators and active users of the English language (Johansen, forthcoming 2026). Teachers might begin by introducing the wordless picturebook’s form and genre and inviting pupils to read, discuss, and ask open-ended questions. Co-creation of a shared glossary list can scaffold writing tasks, like the creation of narrative or dialogue to accompany selected pages (Johansen, forthcoming 2026).

In classroom work with Hike, pupils contributed with words and sentences when pointing out familiar words and objects such as elements in nature, animals, hiking equipment, food or character-related details. When they described their interpretations of the narrative, they labelled words and wrote their own sentences using dialogue, descriptive language and figurative expressions. This kind of activity encourages creativity, collaboration, and meaningful use of language.

Hike represents a strong opportunity for deep reading in the English language classroom through its wordless storytelling, emphasis on environmental care and family connection, and accessible themes. In my own work with the text, I have seen students practice deep reading with Hike, following Bland’s (2022, pp. 13–27) definition, using oral and written language to reflect their own ideas, prior knowledge, and interpretations. This demonstrates how working with a wordless picturebooks such as Hike can inspire pupils to become active users of English by inviting them to participate in shared reading and discussions, respond to open-ended questions, co-create a shared glossary list, and write their own narrative to accompany the story. In this way, Hike becomes a useful resource for fostering deep reading and meaningful language learning.

 

Bibliography

Oswald, Pete. (2020). Hike. Candlewick Press.

 

References

Bland, J. (2022). Compelling stories for English language learners: Creativity, interculturality and critical literacy. Bloomsbury Academic. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350190016

Johansen, M. C. (forthcoming, 2026). Wordless picturebooks as a pathway to deep reading: Investigating students’ engagement with a wordless picturebook in an EAL classroom. In J. Dillon-Craig, S.L. Heggernes, N.C. Ibrahim, & A.M. Lowery (Eds.), Children’s and young adult literature in English language teaching: Perspectives from a Norwegian context. Routledge.

 

Marthe Celine Johansen is an in-service teacher with a passion for using picturebooks in English language teaching. She completed her degree in Primary and Lower Secondary Teacher Education for Years 1-7 at Norwegian University of Science and Technology in June 2024. Her Master’s thesis explored wordless picturebooks as a pathway to deep reading and investigated students’ engagement working with a wordless picturebook.

 

Wiesner, David (2006)

Flotsam

Clarion/Houghton Mifflin

Recommended by Alyssa Magee Lowery

David Wiesner’s Flotsam (2006) invites readers to plunge beneath the surface, both literally and figuratively. Wiesner’s watercolour illustrations tell the fantastical story of a young boy whose discovery of a camera at the water’s edge initiates him into a mystery that spans land and sea, reality and fantasy, and generations of other lucky children. When he develops the film in a sequence that may seem deliciously unfamiliar to mobile camera users of the modern era, the photographs reveal impossible scenes: mechanical fish, underwater civilizations, and a child holding a photograph of another child who holds a photograph of still another, on and on, stretching back through time. Captivated, the boy adds his own picture to the sequence just before the sea reclaims the camera, presumably bearing it to its next discoverer.

Flotsam’s imaginative, meticulously detailed illustrations invite readers to explore the shifting border between nature and technology. The underwater camera – its surface encrusted with coral and barnacles – acts as a bridge between the human world above and the marine ecosystem below. Wiesner’s visual echoes between the eyes of sea creatures, the camera lens, and the reader’s own gaze draw attention to the act of seeing itself, reminding the reader that every image is both observation and interpretation.

As a narrative preoccupied specifically with interpretation of image, Flotsam is especially well-positioned for interpretation through Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS), an approach that nurtures collective meaning-making through close observation and discussion. Developed by Philip Yenawine and Abigail Housen at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), VTS is based on the idea that aesthetic engagement with art requires ‘…not answers but permission to be puzzled and to think. Consent to use…powerful eyes and intelligent minds. Time to noodle and figure things out. The go-ahead to use what [we] already know to reflect on what [we] don’t…’. It positions learners as interpreters who construct understanding together through three guiding questions (Yenawine, 2013):

(1) What’s going on in this picture?

(2) What do you see that makes you say that?

(3) What more can we find?

As Nolan (2022) observes, VTS offers a democratic and inclusive framework for classroom dialogue that values students’ individual perceptions while developing their linguistic, cognitive, and social capacities. In the English classroom, the facilitator’s pointing and paraphrasing practices (‘visual paraphrasing’) help learners anchor new vocabulary to visual evidence, while peer interaction fosters attentive listening and respectful debate. These dynamics make VTS highly adaptable to language education, aligning with curricular aims that emphasize critical thinking, communication, and collaborative inquiry.

Flotsam lends itself naturally to this approach. Its rich, wordless narrative rewards sustained looking, hypothesis-building, and verbal negotiation of meaning. When students examine Wiesner’s underwater worlds together, they practice articulating observation, inference, and interpretation, activating the very skills that underlie both visual and linguistic literacy.

Because Flotsam communicates a story about the nature of visual interpretation entirely through images, it provides equal entry points for all learners, regardless of language level. The book also lends itself to interdisciplinary work: exploring ocean currents in science, visual storytelling in art, or environmental care in social studies. Its quiet pace encourages reflection and creative risk-taking, reminding learners that stories do not always need words to communicate meaning. Through its seamless blend of realism and fantasy, Flotsam invites readers to look closely and think deeply together. The camera’s journey mirrors that of the book itself, circulating from reader to reader and inviting deep engagement at the site of the image.

 

Bibliography

Wiesner, David. (2006). Flotsam. Clarion/Houghton Mifflin.

 

References

Nolan, S. (2022). VTS in the English language classroom in Sweden: Visuality, paraphrasing and collective thinking in support of language learning. Educare, 4, 127–144. https://doi.org/10.24834/educare.2022.4.6

Yenawine, P. (2013). Visual thinking strategies: Using art to deepen learning across school disciplines. Harvard Education Press.

 

Alyssa Magee Lowery is a former U.S. schoolteacher and current Associate Professor of Children’s Literature and Young learners at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. She holds a Ph.D. in Teaching and Learning- Literature for Children and Young Adults. Her publications pertain to popular media for children, young adults, and families.