Wordless Picture Books

Falller, R. (2004). Polo and Lily. New York: Roaring Brook.

ISBN#: 978-1-59643-496-7

This story is about a dog, Polo who lives by himself on a small island in a tree house. One day he gets a surprise, a rabbit flies into his tree house on a cloud and this is Lily. Polo and Lily become friends and have lots of fun together on Polo’s island.  

I think 3-5’s would enjoy this book because the illustrations are great, and it is laid out a bit like a comic strip. The children might not know what a comic is, but it still makes it very interesting to look at. I think children would also enjoy the expressions that Polo makes in each illustration. The illustrations are hand drawn and pretty basic, but still have quite a lot of detail especially in the background. I think children would enjoy seeing the sun at each time of day in the background of the story.

Provocations:

1.      Have a telephone in the middle of the room for children to look at and play with

2.      Have a picture of a vegetable garden somewhere in the room where the children could see it, or if at all possible go to a real vegetable garden somewhere nearby. 

3 ways to present the book:

1)      Read the book and wonder–because this book has no words I think it is something children are not used to as a usual story so they might be intrigued just by that.

2)      Story Vine- key pictures to be photocopied and printed out: Polo watering his garden, Polo Fishing, Polo cooking, Polo eating, Polo sleeping or picture of his tree house with the moon in the background, Lily flying on her cloud, Lily crashing into Polo’s tree house, Polo and Lily drinking hot chocolate, a few scenes of Polo and Lily playing, Polo and Lily flying with the umbrella, Polo and Lily underwater, Polo and Lily eating dinner, Lily giving Polo a kiss, Lily leaving, Polo sitting on his bed looking sad, and the last one being the last picture in the book, of Polo answering the phone and saying “Lily!”  

3)      Story Basket- I think it would be pretty easy to find pieces for a story basket since most items would be house items such as table, table cloth, chairs, bed etc.

Wonders:

-          I wonder why Polo planted all those vegetables? (p.1)

-          I wonder what Polo will do in the morning? (p.8)

-          I wonder what this Rabbit is going to do? (p.10)

-          I wonder what Polo and Lily will do after hot chocolate (p.12)

-          I wonder if Polo and Lily will fall? I wonder if they will fly somewhere? (p.16)

-          I wonder what Polo and Lily will do after dinner? (p.20)

-          I wonder how Polo is feeling? (p. 22/23)

list of 3 extensions:

1.      Outside activity: Plant vegetables, this could be in pots or if the center has the room it could be done in a garden.

2.      Art project: Children could paint or draw pictures of the sun at different times on the day like shown in the book.

3.      Game: Telephone game, this game works by the first person thinking of something short to say and whispering it in the person’s ear beside them. They words make their way around the circle until the last person says it out loud. Usually it either doesn’t make sense or has been completely changed.