Wolf in the Snow by American author/illustrator Matthew Cordell tells the story of a small girl coming across a young wolf while lost in the snow. There is tension, suspense and a fitting resolution AND it is all told through images with only a few supporting words. How can a wordless book help teach writing? Take a look at this book and you will soon find out! Firstly, this text shows the importance of finding a simple IDEA to focus on. The storyline creates great suspense through the provision of just the right amount of detail.

ORGANISATION is another feature of this text; a lead is created, the body is structured in a way that we get information from both sides of the story and a resolution is provided. This would be an excellent text to use with a story plot map and to visually discuss problem/resolution. You could also use it to discuss sequencing and to all the details the author could have used but decided werenÕt necessary. (How can you apply that to your own writing? Do we really need to know all about every thing you said and did on the bus on the way to the swimming carnival?)

READING- Because all the detail of the story needs to be obtained from the images, this is an outstanding text to discuss

PREDICTING and INFERRING (and the relationship between these).

It would also be great for practicing the art of developing a concise chronological summary.