How to share a wordless picture book at bedtime

Open a wordless picture book and look at the first scene together. Say what you notice, then give the next event a sentence. You can tell the whole story yourself, take turns, or let your child point while you supply the words. You do not have to work out an official script.

Reading Rockets describes wordless books as stories told through illustrations and encourages readers to create their own telling. The approach below is a bedtime version, with room for a short conversation rather than a question on every page.

Sources: Reading Rockets: Sharing Wordless Picture Books

Look before you start narrating

Turn through a few pages yourself first. You want to know whether the story contains a surprise your child might dislike and roughly where it ends. At bedtime, pick a book whose pictures you can follow without lengthy explanations. A busy spread can still be fun; you can choose one small part of it.

Start with something visible: "There is a boot beside the door." Then wait. Your child may notice the mouse inside it. Use that detail instead of pushing ahead with the story you had planned. If nobody offers an idea, you can simply continue.

Try one scene, two tellings

One telling could be: "Mouse brought his cup outside. The rain surprised him, so he moved his kitchen under a leaf." Another could be: "Mouse opened a cafe in a boot. His first customer was late because of the rain." Both fit the imaginary pictures. This is an original scene to practice with, not an excerpt from a published book.

For the next page, ask a small question: "Who is the cup for?" That leaves a useful opening. "Tell me everything about the mouse" can be a much bigger request than you meant to make.

Let pointing count as a turn

If your child points at the leaf, you can say, "The leaf is keeping the cup dry." They may add a word or move straight to the next picture. You can also take turns by page rather than by sentence, so neither person has to interrupt.

Reading Rockets suggests drawing on illustration details and asking questions about them. Keep those questions optional. If the conversation becomes a search for answers you already chose, return to describing what is on the page.

Sources: Reading Rockets: Sharing Wordless Picture Books

Keep a bedtime telling small

A wordless book can take two minutes or a long time to tell. Agree on a stopping point that fits tonight: perhaps the end of the book or the scene where the character arrives home. You can save the other small stories hiding in the pictures for tomorrow.

If your child asks for exactly yesterday's version, write down its opening and ending after reading. You can keep those familiar lines and let the middle change. For an entirely new tale, use one remembered object as a starting point for your own drawing or spoken story.