Anno's Journey

Anno's Journey #1

by Mitsumasa Anno

A  Boston Globe-Horn Book   Award  Winner

Join Anno, recipient of the Hans Christian Andersen Medal, on a spectacular tour of Europe!

A pictorial journey through the traditional countryside, farms, and towns of northern Europe takes readers past familiar storybook characters, visual jokes and puzzles, tricks of perspective, and other surprises.


“With paintings, visual puzzles and tricks of perception, Anno introduces geography and science by focusing on children and adults at work and play, as well as on art, architecture, composers, and painters, as he conducts an imaginary tour of England . . . Lush paintings, exquisitely detailed . . . An exceptional book.”— Publishers Weekly

“Executed in meticulous and gently hued watercolors, this imaginative rendering will fill hours of wonderment, always with the delightful anticipation of seeking still one more amazing detail.”— Booklist

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Art, Fiction, Travel, Classics, Geography

48 pages, Paperback

First published April 15, 1977

About the author

His name is written as 安野光雅 in Japanese.

Mitsumasa Anno (born March 20, 1926) was a Japanese illustrator and writer of children's books, known best for picture books with few or no words. He received the international Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 1984 for his "lasting contribution to children's literature".

Source: Wikipedia.

Reviews

[Mir · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would have enjoyed this more had the explanatory end note been at the beginning.

The illustrations in this wordless picture book and lovely and highly detailed. I almost thought it worked like Where's Waldo?, but the artist and his horse were too easy to spot.



Maybe we were just supposed to admire the details. I noticed a couple scenes reminiscent of paintings, and I spotted Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, and the Pied Piper leading children through a plaza where men dug up the cobblestones behind yellow caution boards. Most ladies wear dresses (some hoop skirts, some shapeless peasant frocks) but the women in the foot race wear sweats. Clearly it is no particular time.

Finally, at the end was a note saying that the illustrations are full of hidden details from European art and mythos, and listing a few examples. As I said, I recognized a bunch of paintings and a couple stories. Others I'm simply unfamiliar with, like "Pulling Up the Giant Turnip." Am I supposed to know who the men are fighting the pistol duel? The man climbing a ladder to spy on the bathing woman? The storks(?) on the roof? This may be confusing for modern American children.

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading the author's summary at the end of the book, I reread the book several times and appreciated the journey greater as with each reading I captured more of the essence of the book. I missed so many details from the first perusal. This is not a Where's Waldo kind of read, which was my initial impression. For Japanese illustrator Anno, it was a tour of discovery where he introduced beloved stories, characters, and paintings. Anno meanders through a romanticized European countryside, villages, and towns detailing the architect, people, and nature. The watercolors grew on me inhabited with Red Riding Hood, Renoir, Don Quixote, the Pied Piper, the nude bather, a duel, a runner's race, and the Emperor with no clothes. However, I never could find Beethoven sitting at the window.

[Lisa Vegan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is amazing, outstanding, and its pictures and storytelling via those illustrations are exquisitely done; they’re just beautiful. I need to reread this over and over and over. I might have to get a copy for myself someday. I’ve never been to Europe but there are a lot of clues are about the various locations in the story. I thought that I was being incredibly observant but in the notes at the end, I see I missed so much, so much. I can’t say enough good things about this book and I’m so enthusiastic I am sad that I can’t give a more useful review.

What I’ll say is that the author (illustrator) is a native of Japan but he’s been interested in Europe and its culture and architecture and art, and its folk & fairy tales, its people, etc. etc. These illustrations tell stories of two of his trips, and they include a lot of fantastical elements. Brilliant and fun and appealing to the eye.

I can recommend this to everybody. Pre-readers and readers of any and all languages will be able to read this wordless picture book.

I wish I knew even more about art, folklore, and Europe because I know I’d get even more from this book than I do. But, even as things are, this is now a favorite book of mine.

I’m beyond impressed. And I’m off to reread it again.

I can’t thank the Children's Books group enough! I learned about this book because of the members of that group. When this was nominated for one of our January wordless picture books to read for the Picture Book Club, I immediately put it on reserve at the library. I’m deliriously happy that it is one of our six books for our book discussion next month. The other five selections I’ve already read, and I’ve read many other wonderful wordless picture books too, and this book is definitely one of the outstanding examples of the genre.

Enough said. I’m off to re-read it. I hope to get to at least one other picture book today and back to my novel this evening; I’ll have to see. This might be one I don’t return when I get to the library next time. I think I’ll keep it for nearly the three weeks.

Hours & hours of entertainment are in these pages!

Addendum as I’m shelving this: I’m having a hard time choosing all the appropriate shelves.

And, I'd really enjoy reading some kids' book reports about this book!

[Jon Nakapalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

A journey that will make you appreciate the lure of travel - lovely art. I would love to have traveled more when I was younger; but you get caught in that bind: 'work but no time - time but no work' that eats up your best 'travel decades' - unless you are lucky enough to find a job that allows you to travel.

[Manybooks · Rating 2 out of 5]

Now I honestly do think that I would enjoy Anno's Journey rather if not even considerably more if there were less freneticism, less activity (and definitely not as many people depicted). However, it is indeed true that Europe is a rather crowded continent, so perhaps less people would not seem all that realistic either.

But I really do like (aesthetically speaking) Misumasa Anno's illustrations of houses, churches and buildings quite a bit more than his depictions of human and animal characters, as they just feel rather featureless and swarming (and I never even realised that the reoccurring person on the horse was Mitsumasa Anno himself, until someone pointed this out to me). And while I am certianly enjoying searching for the hidden literary, cultural and folkloric elements (and appreciate the fact that there is actually a list of sorts included at the back of Anno's Journey with which literary icons, which stories and the like to look for), I have not been able to locate all or actually even most of these. I am not all that adept at finding hidden objects even under ideal conditions, and with Anno's Journey, there are simply too many humans, animals, objects and events for me to be able to easily find hidden objects (I have neither managed to find the paintings by Courbet, Millet, Renoir and Seurat nor did I locate Beethoven, although I have been able to spot the Pied Piper, the Giant Turnip folktale setting, Little Red Riding Hood, many of the children's games and Don Quixote). And thus, while I do appreciate Anno's Journey, it is my opinion that the human figures are a bit too small, too numerous (with the level of activity too swarming and fast paced), and that more information with regard to the list of hidden objects on the last page would have been beneficial and facilitated searching for and locating them (for example, having the page numbers of where the specific objects are located displayed on the list would really be a help).

[Ronyell · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first when I read this book, I was sort of bored with the illustrations, but now reading it a few more times, I found myself liking this book! “Anno’s Journey” is a wordless picture by Mitsumasa Anno, which shows the author exploring Northern Europe and marveling at its beauty. “Anno’s Journey” is a great book for anyone who wants to see Northern Europe through a picture book!

I never would have thought that I would be interested in reading (or looking at) a picture book that gives us a close up view of Northern Europe! Mitsumasa Anno has done an excellent job at illustrating this book and I loved the way that Mitsumasa Anno made the illustrations of Northern Europe in aerial view, since it helps readers see everything going on in Northern Europe, including seeing the festivals and people working on their gardens. It was like exploring the customs in Northern Europe with really having to go there in person and it was such a wonderful experience! I also loved the surprising popular fairy tale characters and other well-known characters such as the characters from “Sesame Street” that Mitsumasa Anno put into the illustrations, although I will admit that I had to read the final page of this book to figure this out, but it was worth the trouble to go through the book again to seek these characters out!

The reason why I gave this book a four star rating instead of a five star rating is because I felt that the man in the blue outfit who is riding a horse throughout the book should have interacted with the people and festivals that took place while the man was traveling through Northern Europe since it would have made the book more interesting and more relatable to the audience if we actually got close up shots of the man taking part in the festivals so that way we can see if the man actually enjoyed his journey or not.

Overall, “Anno’s Journey” is a great book for children who want to explore Northern Europe through the comforts of their home. I would recommend this book to children ages four and up since smaller children might be a bit confused about what country Anno is traveling through.

[Chantal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lovely art, but I didn't get this book. No idea what is going on and for me it was just a book with drawings nothing more. There for it only gets 2 points.

This book is in the 1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up challenge I am doing.

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, I enjoyed Anno's Journey and I really appreciated it more after I read the author's note and realized all the things he added, but for me it wasn't really a WOW book or anything that especially touched me. I thought it was interesting that Anno never got off his horse. I suppose part of it is that it was always easy to spot him that way, but I wondered if he mightn't have accomplished the same thing by wearing a more unique outfit or something (ala Waldo). It was just odd to me that he never got down to interact with any of the people/places--he was just passing through and observing.

[Abigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

Celebrated Japanese picture-book author and artist Mitsumasa Anno, winner of the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 1984, began his series of wordless travelogues with this 1977 book - subsequent titles include Anno's Italy , Anno's Britain , and Anno's U.S.A. - which follows the horseback figure of the author, as he travels through northern Europe. From rural fields to crowded towns, country fairs to school races, Anno wends his way through the European landscape, taking the reader on a visual journey that weaves in classic works of art and storytelling, little visual jokes, and a running romantic theme.

I can't say, in all honesty, that I caught everything there was to catch with Anno's Journey, although I did enjoy searching for the author on each page, and recognized a clear homage to Seurat's A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, and a reference to the tale of The Pied Piper of Hamlin. I imagine that the more time one spends with the book, the more it will yield. That is high praise indeed, making this a book that a certain type of young reader - the child who enjoys visual puzzles, or search-and-find books - will delight in poring over! I'm glad The Picture-Book Club to which I belong chose this as one of our January selections. The only other Anno I have read, to date, is the delightful Anno's Aesop , but after enjoying this one, I think I will need to seek out more!

[Sarah Ravel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Anno's Journey by Mitosumasa Anno is a wordless picture book depicting one man's travels through Europe. The excerpt at the end tells the reader that the drawing are based on Anno's own journey through Europe. The drawings are full page illustrations with no framing. Each turn of the page lends to a feeling of movement through the countryside. The illustrations are shown from an aerial perspective, emphasizing the the size of the buildings compared to the small figures of the people. In a way, the illustrations are a testament to the communities built by people. These is a great deal of detail in the drawings; they are filled with cultural references. I know that these are many that I missed as I perused the book. Published in 1977, the drawings seem reminiscent of that time, with muted colors and pencil drawings. I was not pulled into the book through the illustrations. Had the author provided a reference guide to all the references throughout the book, I might have enjoyed the experience more.

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book of highly-detailed two-page sequential drawings tracing the journey of a traveler through (presumably) a "timeless" England - which blends medieval or pre-industrial elements along with (brief) forays into a more modern era - it's endlessly thought-provoking and a pleasure to "read" although it contains no words.

The drawings show an idealized rural area surrounding a bustling village of medieval-looking Tudor/half-timbered or castle-like architecture, with shops, a few restaurants, a post office, a town hall, many churches, even a castle-like jail. There does not appear to be social stratification. In one scene, a group of men are lawn bowling while a nearby vendor spins sugar into floss in a cotton candy machine. The detailed drawings are filled with interesting vignettes of life in the town which seems suspended in a timeless limbo, with horse-drawn carriages and oxen-drawn carts along-side a locomotive in one scene. The world of the self-contained productive village seems on the cusp of modernization but as yet there are no automobiles and no paved roads; rather, there are only roadways between buildings and fields (there are no sidewalks per se) no street-lamps, just fields and buildings, everything seems pre-industrial; there is a cooper making barrels, a black-smith shoeing a horse, so it seems the town is not yet subject to the mass production economy and consumerism. There is no elaborate packaging of goods it seems.

The flattening of perspective and deft, sketchy representation of people seen from a distance reminded me of Japanese prints (https://toshidama.wordpress.com/2011/...) - fitting, since Anno is Japanese. That in itself is part of the fascination, perhaps fun, of viewing the work - along with numerous references to cultural "landmarks" such as Don Quixote, the paintings of Corot, Seurat, etc.

This book will make any reader smile and possibly chuckle, it's an instant up - much needed in our gloomy day and age!

[Crystal Marcos · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is was my last read for this month's Children's Picture Book Club wordless selections found here:http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/4...
My daughter and I read this one together. I managed to keep her attention by calling out things like "Anno, Anno where are you?" The illustration and color choices were too busy for her and sometimes myself. I had trouble finding Anno on a couple of pages. I did enjoy the story and the author note at the end of the book was a nice touch. I didn't find everything there is to find with this book. The more time you spend the more things you will find. I appreciate that the author was telling a personal tale of his travels to Europe.

[Sylvester (Taking a break in 2023) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book redefines "reading". Picking out the various story-lines is so much fun. Somebody is always getting married, there is a duel fought in the field, the farm workers are often from famous artwork scenes, Little Red Riding Hood goes to visit her Grandma...and much more. You could make up a hundred stories to tell your child from this book - I love the idea of "reading the stories" in a scene, it's the same with life, and teaching a child (or adult, for that matter)to find the stories in the world around us seems like a very good thing to me.

Oh, and the illustrations are fantastic.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

A wordless picture book that is busy with activities, buildings and people. The fun is in finding some of the unusual items (like scenes from famous paintings or odd characters from books - or even Sesame street) as well as seeing the subtle changes in the items as you peruse through the pages. It's a fun book to play "I spy" with children.

This book was selected as one of the January 2011 - Wordless Picture Book reads at the Picture-Book Club in the Children's Books Group here at Goodreads.

This book was also selected as one of the books for the March 2018 - Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Picture Book Winners 1975-1982 discussion at the Picture-Book Club in the Children's Books Group here at Goodreads.

[Fjóla · Rating 4 out of 5]

As is the case with so many wordless books, this one calls for repeated "readings". I liked to study the details, try to imagine through where the rider was traveling. In particular I liked how some things repeated themselves through the book but in different form/shape: landscapes, groups of people, children. My 4 1/2 year old was pretty drawn into this book as well. We might seek out Anno's other "travel" books: Spain, Britain, U.S.A, Italy ...

[Isaac D'Souza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anno's Journey is a lovely portrait of rural Europe. I love the scenery, it's never too young. It uses your imgination well.

[Shiloah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Time progression books are a favorite in our home. This one is the wordless progression of a town in Europe. Lovely and well done.

[Miranda W. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I "read" this book as a kid but never really understood what it was about because apparently I missed or didn't read the explanation on the very last page. Now that I understand what's happening, it's an even more enjoyable "read" and a fun world to immerse yourself in for a little while. I love the charming little details Anno included like a duel going on in the background, a pair playing table tennis, and little red riding hood being hunted by the wolf. And, of course, the illustrations are beautiful!

[Bess Karlsdóttir · Rating 5 out of 5]

dit boekje...
ik weet niet eens hoe het in m'n kast is verzeild...

zóveel laagjes...
eenvoud als je wil... plaatjes kijken met allerkleinste kinderen... de man op het paard zoeken...
maar voor alle fijnproevers... humor overal..

en dan een berg kunstgeschiedenis en doordenkers.

Gelukkig staan de enige woorden op het einde. (om wat tegengewicht te geven aan de andere reviews) Gelukkig was ik al gewoon betoverd door het op het eerste zicht eenvoudig prentenboek. Tot ik vanalles begon te ontdekken... en weer terug bladerde... en opnieuw...

Anno is een Meester!

[Heidi Steiner · Rating 5 out of 5]

We LOVE Anno’s books so very much. My kids are always fascinated by his beautiful illustrations that have a touch of whimsy. It was especially fun to find famous paintings and fairy tales replicated in his scenes. My favorite was finding Don Quixote charging a windmill with his poor squire running along behind. This book was a tour through Europe. If you are studying geography with your kids GET ANNO’S BOOKS.

[Lexi V · Rating 4 out of 5]

i can’t wait for xander to be old enough to be able to find anno in the illustrations.

[Stacy Renee (LazyDayLit) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Children's WORDLESS Picture Books

Anno's Journey is about a young man who travels across the land, from town to town, and on and on.

[Michael Fitzgerald · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite of this series.

[Klara Gonciarz · Rating 5 out of 5]

incredible detailing, noteworthy style, incredible illustrations and a beautiful story behind them.

[Jim Erekson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has to be one of the best examples of a postmodern picturebook, because the jokes on both content and form are woven in subtly while play with time is also so gradual that I have to watch the details to notice it.

Loved revisiting this after noticing so many picturebooks that are using the wide-angle panoramic spread. This is one of the best uses of a wide establishing shot throughout the entire book. The thing that stays consistent is that the viewpoint is always just above and back from the scene. It's like I as a reader am sitting in a hot air balloon that floats along with the anchor character as he moves from scene to scene.

Aaron Becker's wordless series owes a great debt here, as does the more wordy work of David Macauley.

[Mladoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Album sans texte qui met en scène un personnage principal, petit bonhomme à chapeau pointu tout de bleu vêtu, venu de la mer en barque qui traverse une Europe du Moyen-Age jusque dans les années 1950 environ. Cet album retrace son voyage.

Titre énigmatique s'il en est car le paysage que traverse ce personnage que l'on retrouve à chaque page, avançant inexorablement, change non seulement de lieu mais d'époque, en une journée (selon le titre).

Truffé de détails, ce petit bijou graphique nous entraîne dans un jeu contextuel ( sur les multiples personnages et objets qui se répètent une page après l'autre dans des situations différentes créant des décalages très drôles, émouvants) et intertextuel (par le jeu des multiples références littéraires et artistiques cachées dans les dessins).

Un livre pour tous les âges qu'on aime aussi bien enfant (car les multiples situations et l'absence de texte permettent à l'enfant de s'exprimer sur ce qu'il voit et ce qu'il ne voit pas) qu'adulte ( on cherche avec une jubilation non dissimulée les références de chaque page, les détails rappelant une peinture, un livre, un conte connu).

Bref, un florilège d'images et des histoires foisonnantes dans lesquelles on se plonge avec délectation. Un appel à l'imagination.

[Rebekah · Rating 4 out of 5]

What first appears to be quite a simple story told through a series of wordless full-page bleeds, actually turns out to be an epic journey through the continent of Europe full of life and stories. Each page is filled with many different people going about a variety of different activities from playing table tennis, to a busy school playground and even what appears to be a proposal in one of them. A lot of the time Anno is just passes through, almost as an observer but sometimes he does get involved and interact with the people he encounters. I think this is reflective of a lot of humanity. Often we just get a glimpse of other people’s lives, not really getting any more involved than that but sometimes we do interact with people, we do share experiences with then go on our way.

The pages are full of details that you’ll never see with just one read through. The note at the back of the book even tells us some of the things that can be found throughout the journey. Even little red riding hood makes an appearance. Kind of makes me want to find a horse and travel through the countryside to observe other ways of life.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this picture book! I even put it on my "must own list". This little book has so much potential! I can see starting this book with a child and needing to stop after a couple pages, so that you can get to bed.

The illustrations are great! Each page has Anno entering the page and the rest of the page is full, and I mean full of activity! It is great. You could rewrite the story differently each time you and your young reader started the book.

I can't sing my praise loud enough for this little book. A must for creative thinking or even to gain a bond with child that you may be learning to know.

I almost never give five stars and this one, easy five!

[SaraLaLa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay, maybe I just don't get what's so amazing about this book. The best thing I could say about it is it's like Where's Waldo, but we're just looking for Anno. I think I was irked since the inside jacket of the book said that I'd find visual jokes and puzzles. I guess it went over my head and I just didn't find it amusing.

[Holly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I gave this book 2 stars because it doesn't have words. I also gave it 2 stars because I can't really read it in my classroom. Anyway, I really liked the illustrations in this book. I would use it in my classroom for "make up a story" activities. I would have the students look at the pictures and write a story based off of it. It was a good book; it just doesn't have words.