Book Review: A Wordless Book for the Imagination

Sector 7 by David Wiesner

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Wiesner's wordless books epitomize the complexity and dream-like nature that illustrations can achieve when not bound by the conventions of language.  This may seem to make them more difficult to use for story-telling, but they consistently inspire readers to rise to the challenge; if the adult isn't up to the task, the children are likely able to fill in.

This time, Wiesner's tale of an Empire State Building field trip includes the discovery by one student of a hidden world which may further delight those readers familiar with Rick Riordan's The Last Olympians.  The boy travels to a factory in the sky where clouds are made; he uses his drawing skills to spice things up, and readers familiar with Wiesner's other books will see some familiar creatures coming to life. This story takes the familiar activity of searching for patterns in the clouds one step further, imbuing the game with magical possibilities.

ELLs can use wordless books in several ways: as extended writing prompts, as "texts" which will allow them to tell the story at exactly their level of fluency, and as material to take home and share with parents and other family members who may often struggle against their own language barriers in supporting their child's schoolwork as fully as they would like.


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