Wordless Picture Book #1 : Mr. Wuffles


Mr. Wuffles is not a normal cat and we learn that very quickly in this book! he doesn't like the toy mice, he doesn't like the ball, or the goldfish, and he doesn't like the regular toy spaceship his parent's suggested at the end of the story. Mr. Wuffles seems to be more interested in playing with this tiny metal sphere which is perched up on these stilt-like legs because it’s a real spaceship! (How cool!) The inside of this spaceship consists of these tiny green- toga wearing alien creatures. Mr. Wuffles is this curious cat and finds this small toy spaceship on the floor and like any other animal he sniffs it, rubs it, bites it, and rolls it. The toy spaceship isn’t designed for any rough treatment and chaos is being released inside of the spaceship and the aliens are in confusion and in fear (this is indicated by their own language which includes triangles, circles and exclamation points). As Mr. Wuffles was playing with this spaceship he disabled it and the aliens are now in deep trouble because of the damaged equipment they can't get home. The aliens decide to leave the spaceship (with some equipment) and enter the territory of Mr. Wuffles when he is sleeping, awaken by the movements Mr. Wuffles chases the aliens and they take shelter under the radiator. The aliens become friends with these ant insects who are quite advanced in civilization and there is this new found cooperation between the aliens and insects through the communication of symbols (they noticed there canvas on the wall of Mr. Wuffles and the ants trying to escape along with the lady-bugs) the ant's and ladybug's help to repair the damaged ship parts which is gesturing a new friendship and they help to come up with a plan to get the aliens to their ship to return home safely, they succeed and the spaceship exits out the window while Mr. Wuffles is trying to chase it, but he is unsuccessful in capturing it. 

My reaction to the book is it’s very visual (love the use of colors and details), it is highly original and overall super creative. The book itself is this illustration of Mr. Wuffles (the cat) and Aliens game so instead of the traditional cat-and mouse game it's this non-traditional game, which is a nice and unexpected twist as a reader. Also I think it’s cute how the aliens are depicted in these toga's which is quite comedic, I think the way the ant's are depicted is quite cute and I love the part where they all get in for a group photo! (there is a crisis going on, but a photo is always acceptable!) I also like how the ant like insects become friends with the aliens and as a reader we can tell they are also afraid of Mr. Wuffles so coming together to form some sort of plan to get the aliens back on the ship safely suggests friendship and working together. The only text is the speech bubbles from the aliens which consist of those geometric shapes, the scratch marks from the ants (their language), and the occasional human language towards Mr. Wuffles, so the rest of the book is up for interpretation and allows that creativity. 

I personally do like this book, I find it to be so colorful and extremely detailed among the panels. It’s neat to be able to see ants, ladybug's and aliens communicating. The aliens would communicate with circles, triangles and more exotic marks, while the ant's and ladybug's are trying to interpret it. With each of their own language we see them come together to get these aliens home! There’s this hidden world we were unaware of and we not only have to learn to look, but look to learn. The book is slightly comical, it is the perfect length (not too short or to long). There is enough details that will make itself present each time the reader goes to read it. I would rate this book a 3 1/2  out of 4 stars because it is highly creative, super colorful and detailed. It maybe challenging for young readers to interpret the geometric shapes used for the language, they might not understand that part as well as we do, but overall it's a fantastic book! 

Title : Mr. Wuffles
Author: David Wiesner
Publisher : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication Date : 2013
ISBN : 9780618756612

Comments

  1. Khalid HorneDecember 24, 2019 at 8:16 PM

    When I read the wordless picture books that I blogged about it really got me thinking how hard it must be to tell a story without any words and just pictures. I can see why many children might like a book like Mr. Wuffles or any wordless picture book for that matter because they can look at the book in many ways and use their imagination to make the story their own. I also find it so interesting that someone can base a book around a cat, aliens, and bugs to create a fun and attention grabbing story. I don't remember having wordless picture books as a kid but I wish I did because they're almost like little mini videos in book form.

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