If you have wiggly kids, then you need this German book without words

My littlest guy, J, is busy. When you're almost 2 years old, there's no time to waste; bunkbeds are waiting to be explored, forbidden scissors are beckoning, and cats begging to be chased :) He doesn't calm down willingly when playtime is over. So it is with much relief that I have been pulling out our Winter Wimmelbuch at naptime.


J doesn't normally have much of an attention span for stories but this book has held him spellbound for several weeks now. Each extra large page spread has a multitude of tiny details to observe and a story waiting to be discovered. Only there are no words, just a wintry city scene on each page which progresses as you move through the book. Each time we look at it, we see different things. The story of the characters is slowly unfolding for us. Maybe that's why J likes it so much - he can look and look and doesn't have to listen to any words to see what's going on. He enjoys pointing and naming the things he knows - Vögel (birds), Autos, Schneemann (snowman), etc.

Amazingly, this book never fails to calm J down and by the end, he's either sleeping or very relaxed and ready for his nap.

If you're looking for books with a German storyline to read aloud, this is not the one. However, if you want a book to help a wild and wiggly kid settle down, you can't go wrong with the Winter Wimmelbuch!

The author, Rotraut Susanne Berners won the 2006 Sonderpreis from the Deutscher Jugendliteratur Preis for her entire collection.

Continue to Berners Winter Wimmelbuch or browse the entire Alphabet Garten Books for German Learners website.