If you are used to mediating traditional picturebooks with text, silent books can be a little daunting. At first, it might seem almost impossible to navigate the visual landscape without the kind of "compass" a written text provides. This might be the reason why so many people, with the very best intentions, try to make up "recipes" for silent book mediations: Do this, then that, and all will be well. Use these props for this books: Step 1, step 2 and so on.This text is an argument for why this might be a bad idea, especially if your goal is to unlock the literary and aestethic potential that silent books provide. 

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First, a disclaimer. This is in no way a critique of all the well-meant "recipes" out there, they are all made with the best of intentions. I must admit to have written one or two myself, in an attempt to please workshop-participants or readers looking for an easy route. But I soon discovered that by doing so, I overlooked two important factors that are essential in order to unlock the silent books aesthetic and communicative potential:

Factor one: What is the role of the mediator?
There is a very big difference of being a teacher that sees it´s "audience" every day, and being a librarian or a performer that only meets them once. As a teacher, you know the group. You have plenty of time to read and re-read the book as many times necessary. If you want to, you can spend a week just introducing the book, leaving little clues like treasures for the children to find, making them hold their breth with anticipation when the book is finally introduced. You have time for all the children´s voices to be heard, and the knowledge needed to also include those who do not share the spoken language.

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As a performer/storyteller/librarian you often only meet the children once. You will usually have little pre-excisting knowledge of the group, apart from their age and the number of people coming. There is not enough time to let everyone chime in on the meaning-making, and you will usually have no idea of the language repetoires available, or if there are children with special needs to be considered. What you do have, is the advantage of being a "special occasion", an out-of-the ordinary experience the children look forward to. You probably have more equipment and a better stage or reading room at hand, and you have the artistic skills to surprise and amaze the children.

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As you can see, a recipe meant for a teacher, will usually not work for a performer, and vice-versa. The settings are just too different. Both roles provide both opportunities and challenges, but they are different, and it is important to plan thereafter.

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Factor two: What is the book?
The problem with the universal step-by-step recipes is that they usually only work on the more traditional silent books, those that are in many ways similar to traditional picture books with text. Don´t believe me? Well, go try the bullet point advice on Bruno Munari´s "Libro illegibile", Warja Lavater´s "Le Petit Chaperon Rouge" or Julie Safirsteins "Bloom" and you´ll get my point. The proof is also in the pudding: The sites that provide this kind of advice tend to also recommend more traditional titles. Many of these books are wonderful, but it still makes you miss out. Both you as a mediator, and the children you are mediating to, miss the many great opportunities the silent book world provides to be amazed: By original artistic expressions, by the book as an object of art and by trying to make sense of a book-like object none of you have seen before.

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Instead of trusting the easy short-cuts, my advice is to trust your own professional competence, to trust the book and to trust the children. Together, you will make it work. Not being caugh up in the "correct" way to do it, will free your heart and attention so that you can point it towards the book and children at hand instead. You don´t need the mediation to be "flawless", but you do need to be connected, both to the possibilites of the book and to the hearts in the audience.

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I will of course not leave you hanging without any advice for mediation. After working 20 years as a mediator, and working full time with silent books for the past few years, I do have some hints to share. Just no easy "to do"-lists :)

A part 2 is coming soon, stay put!

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@Anita Berge, 2025

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