7. Reading as playing

Wimmelbooks are a type of wordless picturebooks which display a series of panoramas teeming with an immense number of characters and details. They constitute a narrative threshold genre with the potential to accompany children a long way on their path to literacy and introduce them to different strategies of coping with the world and telling stories. In contrast to puzzle or search books, wimmelbooks rely on their readers to find their own way through the rich material they contain and do not direct their attention by phrasing explicit search tasks. They allow for manifold reading options and encourage a highly active response from children and adults alike, which rightfully might be described as a form of playing.