15 of the Best Wordless Picture Books to Love

Museum Trip by Barbara Lehman

Museums: filled with mysterious, magical art, and curiosities? Or secrets? And what might happen if a boy suddenly became part of one of the mind-bending exhibits?

Flashlight by Lizi Boyd

Inside a tent it’s cozy. But what is going on outside? Is it dark? Is it scary? Not if you have your trusty flashlight! Told solely through images and using a spare yet dramatic palette, artist Lizi Boyd has crafted a masterful exploration of night, nature, and art.

Sector 7 by David Weisner

Only the person who gave us Tuesday could have devised this fantastic Caldecott Honor-winning tale, which begins with a school trip to the Empire State Building.

A boy makes friends with a mischievous little cloud, who whisks him away to the Cloud Dispatch Center for Sector 7 (the region that includes New York City). The clouds are bored with their everyday shapes, so the boy obligingly starts to sketch some new ones.

This is one of the wordless picture books that is appropriate for older kids as well because of the complexity of the plot. Wiesner makes of some of the best wordless picture books- I have loved all of his books.

Unspoken: A Story from the Underground Railroad

When a farm girl discovers a runaway slave hiding in the barn, she is at once startled and frightened.  But the stranger’s fearful eyes weigh upon her conscience, and she must make a difficult choice.

Will she have the courage to help him? Unspoken gifts of humanity unite the girl and the runaway as they each face a journey: one following the North Star, the other following her heart. This is one of the wordless picture books I think is appropriate for older children because of the powerful story it tells. While this is a book with no words, the story is not diminished in any way!

Frog Goes to Dinner by Mercer Meyer

A Boy, a Dog, and a Frog is the first book in this series and also helped to create the wordless picture book genre.

This hilarious story is laugh-out-loud funny. The boy wants to bring his frog out for dinner and when the frog hides in Boy’s pocket, chaos ensues. This book with no words will have you laughing out loud.

Ball by Mary Sullivan

A dog with a ball is one of the most relentlessly hopeful creatures on Earth. After his best little-girl pal leaves for school, this dog hits up yoga mom, baby, and even the angry cat for a quick throw.

No luck. Forced to go solo, the dog begins a hilarious one-sided game of fetch until naptime’s wild, ball-centric dream sequence. The pictures speak a thousand words in this pick from wordless picture books.

The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney

The Caldecott Award-winning and New York Times bestselling fable of compassion and kindness retold by acclaimed artist Jerry Pinkney.

In award-winning artist Jerry Pinkney’s wordless adaptation of one of Aesop’s most beloved fables, an unlikely pair learn that no act of kindness is ever wasted.

The Only Child by Guojing

A little girl—lost and alone—follows a mysterious stag deep into the woods, and, like Alice down the rabbit hole, she finds herself in a strange and wondrous world. But… home and family are very far away. How will she get back there?