A visual book can be defined as any book that relies on pictures to tell a story or demonstrate a concept. Words can be evident in visual books but often take a secondary role to the images.

Kids who come late to reading may struggle with large tracts of text, pages of prose alone that are generally symbolic of having achieved a competent level of reading.

Comics can offer an enticing intermediary for kids who are still drawn to books but who may reject the idea of traditional chapter books. While there is still a certain amount of stigma attached to comics, there are a number of titles that both attract reluctant readers and also offer a level of appropriate reading material for emerging readers.

Titles like The Dreamland Chronicles, Bone, Tellos and The Amulet are all books in a series that are image driven stories with age-appropriate vocabulary and subject matter.

Beyond comics there are some books that maintain a level of attraction for visual learners whilst retaining the familiar chapter book format. At the forefront of these is the Geronimo Stilton series. Originally written in Italian, this series was first translated into English in 2000 by Scholastic.

The main feature of these books is their emphasis on color text and dynamic illustrations. When you open a Geronimo Stilton book the first thing to note is their white pages. The pages are white, not sepia to hold the color that appears in both the text and the illustrations that butt into the text.

The main parts of text are in black but words of different fonts and color are interspersed at various points to add emphasis to certain words or simply just add variation. For readers intimidated by long stretches of prose in even the smallest chapter books, these visual variations are engaging and entertaining.

For visual kids who are struggling with reading, letting them peruse visual books such as Geronimo Stilton or comics like Bone, may instil a love for reading through this temporary phase.