The 28 books thus far in the My Big Wimmelbook® series are oversized (8.75” X 11.75”) board books with 14 to 16 pages. Their subject matter ranges far and wide with titles such as:
- My First 100 Words
- Oops! What’s Wrong Here?
- Tractors Everywhere
- Diggers at Work!
- I Can Do It!
- All Aboard the Train!
- Good Night
- A Day at School
- Animals Around the Worlds
- On the Farm
- Cars and Things That Go
- Find Your Feelings
- Happy Halloween!
These are picture books, with each two-page spread crammed full of images, similar to Where’s Waldo? but less crowded.
Wimmelbooks offer more than usual educational value because the first two pages have several isolated images with brief descriptions, and at the top, it says something like: “Welcome to Wimmelfarm. Can you find these characters (and tell their stories) in each scene that follows?"
In On the Farm, three of the 15 images are of Miss Maple, the chicken, who “isn’t always where you expect her to be,” The Carter family (visiting the farm for the day), and the farm veterinarian, Dr. Shannon. Parents can read the caption for one of the images, then have their child search through the pages to find that character(s) and see what they are doing on each page, or children can tell their own stories about what is happening with each character. They can go back through the books many times in this way for each character.
This process teaches observation skills, sequencing events, analysis, and creative storytelling, although you won’t do all of that with a two-year-old. Along the way, children learn about the topic of the book.
The books are by various authors, and while they have slightly different styles, they have the same overall approach.
The books originated in Germany but became so popular internationally that we now have this series of English-language Wimmelbooks. Characters are multicultural, and you might occasionally spot drawings that reveal their international origins, such as kitchen appliances that look different from those common in the U.S. However, some changes were probably made for U.S. audiences, such as the American flag on a farm building in On the Farm and signs and labels within images that are written in English.
Most of the books use cartoon characters for both people and animals, but Animals Around the World features many drawings of animals that are quite realistic, even if situated in unrealistic settings. In A Day at the Zoo, animals are cartoons but can readily be identified as particular types of animals.
Note that smaller boardbooks, titled My Little Wimmelbooks, are also available.
Summary
My Big Wimmelbooks are great for engaging young children with fun explorations, while they also introduce new topics and develop pre-reading skills.
