Day with No Words

A Day with No Words is written by author Tiffany Hammond and illustrated by Kate Cosgrove. This book was published by Wheat Penny Press in 2023. I located this title through the Dis/ability, Access, & Inclusion Wakelet on the website of the Dolly Gray Children’s Literature Award. I was able to locate a physical copy of the book through my public library. A Day with No Words has received the Dolly Gray Children’s Literature Award and the CLEL Bell Award for TALK (Colorado Libraries for Early Literacy) in 2024. This book follows a young boy named Aidan who has autism and is non-verbal, he communicates using a tablet (an AAC device). The story follows Aidan and his mother as they spend the day together. They head to the park where Aidan loves to be. He likes to stare at things through his parted fingers, hug trees, and feel the soft grass with his bare feet. As they play together, there are people walking in the park who give them stares and make a harmful comment about Adain, who is jumping and flapping with joy. The mother uses her AAC device to share in front of her son with those people that while he cannot speak with his voice, his ears can hear and understand their harmful words, which are harmful to his mind. Aidan continues to enjoy his time at the park, playing in the damp grass with his bare feet. After the park, Aidan and his mother head to a restaurant, proving that a day without words can still be enjoyable and fulfilling.

I really enjoyed reading this book because, while it uses a small amount of text, you can navigate what is happening in the story through the illustrations. The story can be told through the change of colors, the different facial expressions of characters, etc. I think I also felt an emotional feeling while reading this book because within the text, they don't tell you how the characters are feeling, they show you with their body language and facial expressions whether it was a positive or negative feeling. I also really enjoyed the amazing illustrations done by Cosgrove. She used a lot of color throughout the book, dark colors seemed to have portrayed a shift in mood in either the scene or the characters, and when there were vibrant colors, they emphasized more positive emotions and tone. I also really enjoyed how the illustrations were done from multiple different angles. Some were done close up on Aidan's face, others were done as a close up on his feet when he was touching the damp grass with his feet, and others were from a more standard angle. By doing this, I think the illustrator really helped to capture how a child might focus on these sensory details. Lastly, I liked how, most of the time when the AAC tablet was drawn, the tiles or words would fly from the screen and go out into the open space of the world. I think that the illustration of the AAC tablet being used is crucial in sending the message to a reader that even though these are not spoken words from a mouth, they are still real and powerful as spoken ones. The letters were also drawn in vibrant colors, which convey the power and positivity that Aidan has, even though he is not able to physically speak his thoughts.

I believe that this book is a perfect example of a contemporary realistic fiction book that focuses on the theme of disability. Instead of being inspirational or a character coming over their disability, this book just portrays an authentic look at a life with a non-verbal disability. The story never portrays Aidan as a character who is unable to do things or can eventually fix his disability, it portrays him as the narrator in the story. I believe that this is super powerful because it lets the reader know that just because Aidan cannot speak verbally does not mean that he does not have intellectual thoughts and emotions, it shows the complete opposite. Within Chapter 10 of Essentials of Children’s Literature, it talks about how children that read about other children's challenging situations can help those who are not facing these problems learn how to develop empathy as well as knowledge. I think that this book is a good example for readers to bridge the gap between understanding and showing empathy by putting oneself into Aidan’s shoes and feeling the emotion of what being non-verbal may feel, see, and look like to him, as well as potentially for others.

I think that this book can be used for grades K-3 (ages 5-9). In terms of using this book for literacy instruction, I think it would be a great resource to teach figurative language, as it emphasizes metaphors. In the book, Aidan uses many comparisons when he is talking at the beginning of the story to describe how voices and certain things make him feel. A potential activity with students can be having them write about a specific emotion they feel in a certain scenario, but they need to find a way to describe it without naming the emotion. I think this would also lead to teaching about the use of descriptive language. You can challenge students to move away from using words like ‘nice’ or ‘good’ and tap into the use of the ‘5 senses’ of see, touch, taste, feel, & smell. This can help students build a more diverse and expressive vocabulary. I think that this book can also be used to teach students the importance of looking at the illustrations, which can also help to tell the story. You can try by showing this book to the students the first time, by just showing the illustration and not reading the words. As you flip through the pages have students infer Adain’s, his mother’s, and even the people in the park's emotions by looking at their body and facial expressions, as well as the color of the illustrations.

A Day With No Words is written by Tiffany Hammond and illustrated by Kate Cosgrove. This book is the winner of the 2024 Dolly Gray Children's Literature Award and a New York Time's #1 Bestseller. This contemporary realistic fiction story is about a young boy named Aidan with autism. The young boy pays very close attention to how other people speak. He talks about how some voices are like air, while other voices are like water. He notices that some voices are big like storms, while other voices are soft and smooth like freshly whipped cream. Aidan notices the differences in voices as he himself does not speak, he uses a tablet to help with his communication needs. The author brings to light that nonverbal communication is a type of communication. People who use verbal communication to relay their thoughts and feelings also rely on nonverbal communication throughout their day. Aidan also shares some things he appreciates doing that others may not understand. A Day With No Words is written from the little boy’s perspective which gives the reader an opportunity to understand what it is like to live as a nonspeaking individual. This book brings to light that not every child is exactly the same and neurodiversity is something that can be celebrated.

I would highly recommend this book for kindergarten through 3rd grade students. This book offers a small glimpse into the life of a nonverbal autistic child. It helps the reader develop an awareness and empathy for someone who may seem different from themself. It also offers an opportunity for children with autism to see themselves as a main character in a story. I also really appreciated the illustrations, they offered an opportunity for the reader to understand better what the main character was thinking and how he was feeling throughout the story. I also really appreciated the small symbols of peace and love within the tattoos on the fast food worker’s arm. I feel like that reiterates to us, the reader, that our differences make us unique and that we have so much more in common than meets the eye.

This book would offer a great opportunity to brainstorm nonverbal language we use throughout our day; body language, pictures, gestures, facial expressions, writing, etc. Our classroom and communities are very verbal places but there are also a number of ways we communicate in nonverbal ways. The author also uses many similes throughout the book, “Daddy’s voice is like air, soft as a light summer breeze that kisses my cheek, strong as the winds of hurricanes that abandon ships at sea.” Perhaps this could be a way to introduce similes. You could have the students listen to sounds or voices and they could think of a simile that describes the sound or voice.

A Day With No Words was written by Tiffany Hammond and illustrated by Kate Cosgrove. This book was publish in 2023 and received the Dolly Gray Children’s Literature Award (2024) and was on the Center for the Study of Multicultural Children's Literature Best Books (2023). In addition to this, it was New York Time’s #1 Best Selling Picture book! This book’s main character is a boy named Aidan who is autistic and nonverbal. The book shows the reader what it is like to spend a day existing as Aidan. The book starts off with Aidan waking up in the morning, walking to the park, playing at the park, and then going to get food at a fast food place. All are common experiences many children have with their parents. However, the reader gets to see from Aidan’s perspective as Aidan shares his thoughts throughout the story. Aidan understands and uses words but doesn’t use his voice to speak words. Instead, Aidan uses his device to push buttons that represent the images/words he is communicating. Throughout the story Aidan is able to be fully aware of the details of everyday life. He hears many voices and relates them to storms, whipped cream, waves, and air. This shows the wide spectrum of voice range and communication. This pairs nicely with the colors and tones used in the illustrations to show the wide range of voices and emotions associated with them. It also parallels Aidan’s feelings/response to the different voices he hears. Aidan is self-aware that he does things that people do not understand. The relationship between Aidan and his mom is strong as she is in tune with what comforts him versus what makes him anxious. When his mom takes him to the park, the illustration of the other mothers nearby with their children portrays the misunderstandings of children with autism as one mother sneers “That boy is handicapped” when Aidan flaps. One mom is holding her son to protect him from Aidan. Another mom looks like she is showing pity on Aidan and his mom as her daughter hides behind her. Later in the story, Aidan’s mom uses her own tablet when ordering food at a fast food restaurant. Aidan’s mom uses the device just like Aidan to model navigating communication with a verbal world. This book highlights the challenges a nonspeaking individual faces. With support of the illustrations this picture book also shows how humans constantly use nonverbal communication as well (facial expressions, hand gestures, touch, and written word). Messages can be heard without having a voice. The illustrations have different tones of color used to contrast the thoughts, feelings, wants, needs, and voices within a community. They also show how Aidan perceives all the voices and noise around him. He has a cunning sense of perception! This book helps to foster an understanding and acceptance of people like Aidan. This book can be seen as a contemporary fiction picture book because it takes place in modern society with use of the tablet device for communication instead of just picture cards from previous decades. It also has the theme of disability through representation of Aidan as a nonverbal autistic child. Many books are written to explain the nature of a disability. This picture book offered perspective from a nonverbal child and showed diversity in how all humans communicate. I found this book to be a respectful representation of disability that could be suitable for primary to intermediate elementary students. I would use this book to discuss the themes of communication beyond spoken words, patience, understanding, acceptance, autism awareness, and inclusion. Since this book focuses on the community, I would use this book as an introduction for a class community action project. Community action projects would be used to either spread awareness or provide a sense of acceptance and belonging within the community. Another way I would use this book is by focusing on the theme of communication. This can be used across all subject areas. I would put students in groups to present on a topic. However, they will not be able to use words. They will have to be creative and use other forms of communication (sounds, gestures, facial expressions, pictures, etc.) to convey their feelings/message. Afterwards, we will discuss the different modes of communication from both the presenter and audience member’s perspective. For an art class, students can do an illustrator study! Students can be provided with different voices/sounds and draw their emotional response to each sound using different colors. This would be great for a mindfulness activity too for social emotional-learning! Overall, this book offers a sense of belonging for nonverbal students and would be beneficial to add to any classroom library!