Wordless picture books are a wonderful way to encourage a child's literacy skills. Without language prompts. the child must infer what is happening in the story by using only the illustrations and their imagination. Through this practice they will develop comprehension as well as an overall understanding of story structure and plot.
That said, the more important reason to read I Walk with Vanessa can be summed up in one word: kindness. After witnessing a boy be incredibly mean to a girl on the way home from school one day, the main character thinks and thinks about what she saw. It weighs so heavily on her mind that she is still hurting for the other girl when morning comes. But breakfast brings an "aha moment" when she comes up with a plan to show Vanessa support. Knocking on Vanessa's door, she cheerfully pulls her by the hand and walks to school alongside her. One of the lessons shown in the book is how kindness begets kindness as more and more classmates join the two new friends and the crowd surges onto the school grounds as a united force.
Kindness is contagious.
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