Spencer’s New Pet by Jessie Sima; illustrated by Jessie Sima. 2019. Illustrations rendered in Adobe Photoshop. Published Simon and Schuster.
Brief summary: A boy and his pet balloon dog do everything together being very careful to avoid any sharp objects. The inevitable does happen, but it’s afterwards that is surprising.
Comments: The colors used for this book are black, gray, white, and red. The beginning end pages are the 3-2-1- movie countdown. The book is divided into thirds and done in the silent movie frame style. This is a story without words.
Wordless stories are one of my favorite genres. I would share the book with the students in total silence explaining that the words are happening in our minds as I turn the pages. When the book ends, we then would go page-by-page taking turns of how the story unraveled.
For older students, I would show the book again using an ELMO this time up on the screen while they wrote the story. We would share with a neighbor.