Ball

Sullivan, M. (2013). Ball. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

What does your dog do when you are gone all day? This picture books shares with you a possibility. All the dog in this story wants is to find someone to play ball with him. This is a semi wordless picture book. The only word on the page is ball. Teachers can use it to teach author's tone and inflection.  Each way "Ball" is said is different than how it is said before. Using the pictures will help the reader knowhow to say the word. The dog also goes through a number of feelings. Students will have to infer how the dog is feeling based on the pictures and background knowledge. The teaser on the back covers tells you "One word says it all." In this case, it does.

Sector 7

Wiesner, D. (1999). Sector 7. New York, NY: Clarion Books.

I love a wordless picture book. Using these books in the classroom, force students to use their observations and imaginations to tell the story. By doing this students see there is a whole lot more to reading than just saying the words on the page. Illustrations can help a reader understand an author's tone. Illustrations can also narrate a story. Readers can be an observer looking in on the characters or they can be drawn from a character's point of view. 

The pictures in this story are so detailed. Every little thing on the page is part of the story. And because it's wordless, the reader can create their own story. It may be very different than another readers interpretation. That is what good literature should do- be something different for every person who reads it.

In Sector 7, a class goes on a field trip to the Empire State Building. It is a cloudy day, normally a bad day to go visit a tall building known for great views. A little boy goes up to the observatory at the top of the building. He meets a cloud. They begin to ham around. The cloud takes the boy to the cloud depot located in sky. As they float, the reader can see they are going higher and higher. They arrive at Sector 7. The main character is taken around and sees how clouds hang out when they are not hanging in the sky. The clouds seem to be upset at drawing showing what their intended shapes should be. The boy begins to create new plans. He draws massive detailed fish. This pleases the clouds but not the humans who manage the clouds. They abruptly escort him out. A taxi cloud carries him back to the Empire State Building. His friend, the cloud is waiting for him, but it is time for him to leave with his class. The cloud decides to stowaway with the boy.  When they get downstairs and go outside the sky is full of clouds with the most spectacular marine shapes. The clouds have used the boy's plans after all and turned the sky into a underwater scene. This pleases the people back on Earth. It appears that the cloud management group may have changed their minds about the boy's drawing. They are now passing them out to clouds for the job assignments.