A word-free picture book

This book has no words. But it’s not for babies. It’s aimed at 4-8 year-old children, and can even be used with secondary school students. Gregory Rogers’ book, “The Hero of Little Street” is the third in his series about a boy who travels back in time to have all sorts of adventures. It’s almost like a comic book, but there are no speech bubbles. The action, and there is plenty of action, happens when a boy escapes from a few bullies into the London National Gallery and ends up in a Dutch Masters painting.

I love this book because:

- it is a fabulous way to engage reluctant readers
- it could be used with older students in an art or history class to look at
the Dutch Masters or seventeenth-century Holland
- you can talk about dealing with bullies
- it depicts a ‘little’ hero, who is a bit mischievous
- it shows kids that pictures tell a thousand words
- if you photocopy a page or two, you can add speech bubbles for kids to create their own version of the story
- there are lots of suggested activities on the Allen and Unwin website
- it has been shortlisted for the Children’s Book Council of Australia Awards in the Picture Book section.