A wordless picture book takes its readers on a magical adventure of the imagination. 

These wordless picture books are often suitable for a wide range of ages and cross reading abilities making them ideal to use for a whole school assembly or class discussion on World Book Day.

Most of the books in this collection are completely wordless but some carry sparing text, though all are primarily driven by exquisite, detailed artwork from some of our finest children's illustrators.

The books in this collection encourage children to study the wonderful illustrations and tell the story in their own words. 

Although many of the picture books here have a recommended reading age, picture books are for everybody. Picture books offer opportunities for children to explore the aesthetics of image, investigate a range of interpretations and infer meaning. Gaps in the narrative encourage multiple reads, giving us the potential of more every time we pick the book up.

Shaun Tan is an artist, writer and film-maker and is best known for his incredible, illustrated books that deal with social and historical subjects through dream-like imagery, widely translated throughout the world and enjoyed by readers of all ages. Several of his books feature on this list. He has commented about picture books: "You want to invite the reader through the door without telling them where they are." Picture books encourage great book chat, enabling the reader (no matter the age) to interpret their own meaning and ask questions.

With thanks to Mariachiara Di Giorgio for the beautiful, ethereal, carousel taken from The Midnight Fair.