A number of graphic novels and picturebooks published in the past decade have presented various forms of invented languages both in books which have been hailed as ‘wordless’, such as Shaun Tan’s epic tale of migration, 'The Arrival' (2006), or in 'Baloney (Henry P.)' by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith (2005), the tall tale of an alien which creatively blends at least twenty different ‘Earth’ languages. While in 'The Arrival' the system of incomprehensible yet unsettlingly familiar symbols which take the place of words on signs and documents both underscores the alienation of the protagonist in his new environment and enables the reader to experience a similar disorientation, the creative and performative approach by the protagonist in 'Baloney', who masters a melange of languages, is employed solely for entertainment purposes.
This paper will discuss these and other examples (such as David Wiesner’s 'Mr Wuffles!' (2013)) in the context of multilingualism in children’s literature. It will address the functions which can be attributed to invented languages and will take a brief look at how these are translated, when the books appear in other languages.