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“Journey of the Sea Glass” by Nicole Fazio
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“Journey of the Sea Glass” by Nicole Fazio
Review by Linda Tripp, collection development librarian
Soft sepia-toned illustrations open this wordless picture book about what happens next after a soda bottle tumbles off a ship into the ocean. Over the years, all manner of creatures encounter the bottle, from gulls to sea turtles, a curious octopus, a whale and playful sea otters. As the years pass, illustrator Fazio gradually begins to add watercolor pastels to her pen and ink oceanscapes, culminating in a young beachcomber's triumphant find: a glorious chunk of green sea glass.
Wordless picture books provide wonderful opportunities for caregivers to help young children develop language skills. Sharing books becomes more open-ended as children are offered the opportunity to make observations based on the illustrations. Questions such as “What do you think is happening on this page?” and “What do you think will happen next?” or “How much time do you think has passed?” help direct children to consider the story based on visual clues. Queries such as “How do you think she feels?” or “What would you do?” help facilitate discussion and relate what’s going on in the book to the child’s real life experiences. In addition to fostering creativity and storytelling, interacting with wordless books helps young readers engage in critical thinking and practice making predictions. English language learners also benefit from using this format.
If I was sharing this book with a young person, I’d definitely pair it with my personal favorite wordless book: David Wiesner’s Caldecott Medal-winning “Flotsam.” Find more wordless picture books to share in the No Words book river on the catalog home page.