Before Words: Wordless Picture Books and the Development of Reading in Young Children

Language and Literacy

by Judith T. Lysaker

In this book, the author challenges reductive views of emergent literacy prevalent in many of today’s kindergarten and pre-K classrooms. As an alternative, Lysaker explains how reading wordless books with young children helps them to develop a range of comprehension abilities that are important for understanding narrative texts. Readers will find concrete methods to help them gauge, document, and respond to children as they make meaning of and respond to wordless books. Through description and analysis, the text reveals the undervalued richness of young children’s emergent comprehension and the intricate, purposeful nature of their specific early thinking activities. Before Words encourages readers to think about young children’s comprehension as complex meaning-making and suggests new ways of responding to the unique sense-making tools young children use during wordless book reading. Book Features:

160 pages, Paperback

Published November 23, 2018

Reviews

[Carolyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good examples of a study she did with the children reading wordless picture books and the questions she asked them. Great examples of questions that want to read wordless picture books to their children.

[Cara Byrne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really useful guide to thinking about how we teach and discuss wordless picture books!