Do books have to have words in order to be effective? No! The wordless book that first comes to mind for me is The Snowman. I know my mom used that in speech therapy with her little kids when she worked in an Elementary School.
Try letting your child who can not read yet pick out a book without words. You can try the following activities with him/her:
- Describe the pictures on each page
- Have your child make up the story as she goes along
- Have your child write a word or a sentence (he/she may need help) for each page
- Have your older kids write down what your little one says (this will get everyone involved)
- Save the book so your child can have a book that he/she "authored" at a young age!