Journey

Journey Trilogy #1

by Aaron Becker

A New York Times bestseller!
A Wall Street Journal 20 Best Children’s Books of the Past 20 Years Selection
A 2014 Caldecott Honor Book

Follow a girl on an elaborate flight of fancy in a wondrously illustrated, wordless picture book about self-determination — and unexpected friendship.

A lonely girl draws a magic door on her bedroom wall and through it escapes into a world where wonder, adventure, and danger abound. Red marker in hand, she creates a boat, a balloon, and a flying carpet that carry her on a spectacular journey toward an uncertain destiny. When she is captured by a sinister emperor, only an act of tremendous courage and kindness can set her free. Can it also lead her home and to her heart’s desire? With supple line, luminous color, and nimble flights of fancy, author-illustrator Aaron Becker launches an ordinary child on an extraordinary journey toward her greatest and most exciting adventure of all.

Genres: Picture Books, Fantasy, Childrens, Adventure, Fiction, Art, Friendship

40 pages, Hardcover

First published August 6, 2013

About the author

Aaron Becker has worked as an artist for such film studios as Lucasfilm, Disney, and Pixar, where he helped define the look and feel of characters, stories, and the movies they become a part of. With Journey, he has created characters and worlds of his very own, using traditional materials and techniques. Aaron Becker lives in Amherst, Massachusetts, with his wife, daughter, and cat. This is his first book.

"I’ve made several memorable journeys in my lifetime. I’ve lived in rural Japan and East Africa and backpacked through the South Pacific and Sweden. But to this day, my favorite destination remains my imagination, where you can often find me drawing secret doorways and magic lanterns." — Aaron Becker

Reviews

[Jason Koivu · Rating 5 out of 5]

* * * Read and Reviewed by Me & My Niece Emma * * *

We LOVED Journey!!! We loved everything about it!

Usually reading time is an Emma and me thing, but even Tita Cherry (my wife/Emma's aunt) got in on this one. All three of us sat around the dining room table, not reading the wordless pages, yet fully enthralled by this wonderful adventure of a girl escaping loneliness and the doldrums of daily life with a stick of magic chalk. She draws up a boat or magic carpet or whatever, and off we go into a fantastical land of fairy forests, castles and steampunky airships. We excitedly guessed what the girl was drawing next and lingered lovingly over the lavish illustrations, reveling in the merest of details.

This book isn't an entirely original idea, but it is very well executed. The scenes are vibrant. The full spread, and sometimes double spread illustrations are highly detailed. And yet, the funny thing is, much of this is in drab colors. A vivid red is used to indicate the magic items the girl has drawn. Otherwise nothing more than a touch of gold here or a highlighted gleam of light there are used to transform the dull landscape into something living and vaguely mysterious.

Emma isn't terribly sexist (on the other hand just recently she started a "NO BOYS ALLOWED!" club, though I think that was set up in hopes of luring in the boys with reverse psychology), but the fact that the main character is a girl might have increased her interest in Journey. I know I was happy to see a girl as the hero of the story, taking matters into her own hands, going on adventures, etc. I don't think the world needs another wallflower girl, so anything that nudges Emma away from the shy, second class citizenship so many women are cast into is all right by me!

[Calista · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Lovely bit of imagination in this Wordless book.

We meet a girl who is lonely and the rest of her family is busy. She finds her imagination and she is off in another world. A very lovely world filled with wonders. She uses her magic red crayon to create things or open doors.

I don’t want to spoil the ending at all. It’s worth reading this joyful story.

Even though the nephew is beginning to read some, he still gets to read the wordless book. Let me tell you, his story was filled with all kinds of things you would not believe. It was exciting and filled with body humor, to say the least. (He was once asked what his favorite body part was and he answered, the butt cause it farts, and he laughed heartily.) The artwork is stellar here and it opened up my imagination.

The nephew thought his story was great and he gave this 5 stars. The niece enjoyed this new world too and she gave it 4 stars.

[Mischenko · Rating 5 out of 5]

To see this and other wordless picture book reviews, please visit www.readrantrockandroll.com

Journey by Aaron Becker is a wordless children's book about a bored little girl who's looking for an adventure. She uses her magic red marker to create a fantastic journey through a new world. Children and adults will love the rich and bright illustrations that have just the right amount of detail.

The ending might leave you guessing a little bit as to how the events conclude. The clues are in the colors.

We loved this book! It's beautiful and a wonderful addition to the home library. I can't wait to read the next two in the trilogy.

5*****

[Kelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot begin to guess how many times my children and I have read this book. I still marvel at the fact that this is a debut! It is a near-perfect depiction of a child's imagination, complete with a magic bird, secret doors, castles, what can only be described as flying machines and evil enemies in a fantastical world of adventure. This wordless tale stars a brave little girl in a story that could be a tad ambiguous...meaning my children had many different interpretations of what the action was all about at each of our many perusals. How is that not magical?!

*I'm reviewing this after reading all three books in the trilogy today. To me, the very first page is the most remarkable. The author uses color extremely well. Color or lack of color convey a lot of meaning and the gorgeous illustrations offer much to explore. 4.5 stars.

[Manybooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

While Aaron Becker's Journey does remind me a bit of Crocket Johnson's Harold and the Purple Crayon in so far that both Harold and the lonely little girl protagonist make use of coloured crayons to both create adventure and rescue themselves out of various precarious situations, Journey is indeed a much more visually rich and nuanced story than Harold and the Purple Crayon can ever be, with both a backstory, friendship found and multiple rescues (as the little girl rescues a purple bird which in turn then returns the favour and saves her).

An imaginative and lushly illustrated wordless picture book is Journey, but fortunately and unlike so many wordless offerings that tell more involved and nuanced tales, Aaron Becker's completely and utterly sans written text plot-line is while indeed intricate and densely rendered also NEVER so convoluted and visually distracting that following it to its conclusion becomes potentially difficult (which has often been the case for me with other story-heavy wordless picture books, namely that I do have the tendency to become visually lost without having words, without having an actual written narrative also presented, especially if the illustrations are not just simple and straight-forward line drawings). And although I originally was not all that keen on "reading" (or rather on having to visually attempt to follow) Aaron Becker's intricate and lushly detailed pictorial images without there being any accompanying text of printed words, I have to admit that I am gladly saying I was wrong to have been be so trepidatious with regard to Journey, as I have not only massively enjoyed the featured pictures, I have also had no problems at all both understanding and much appreciating the fairy-tale like scenario and plot, and have therefore also now eagerly added the two sequels to Journey (Quest and Return) to my to read list.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

When a young girl is desperate for some attention from her family but they appear to be too wrapped up in their own lives to notice her, she draws herself into an imaginary land and can get herself out of any predicament with just a few lines drawn from a magical red crayon.

Journey is an absolutely stunning, heart-skipping wordless picture book. It will make you gasp at its beauty and feats of imagination. It is probably my favorite wordless picture book of all time. Can someone say Caldecott? I just did. There's a perfect spot for the sticker on the left side - all that sky is just begging for an award sticker to be placed upon it.

What is so captivating about this picture book is the variety of influences you see in Becker's art, namely the Eastern influences, especially on the first full page spread where our protagonist enters the land of her imagination and you see paper lanterns strewn about the forest.

But truly, this book can be summed up by reading Aaron Becker's biography on the back flap:

"Aaron Becker has made several memorable journeys in his lifetime. He's lived in rural Japan and East Africa, backpacked through Sweden and the South Pacific, and, most recently, ventured from San Fancisco Bay to Amherst, Massachusetts, the town he and his wife, daughter, and lazy cat now call home. To this day, his favorite destination remains his imagination, where he can often be found drawing secret doorways and magic lanterns."

LOVE that. Especially because, despite the fact that the journey in this book is by that of a young girl, it still felt very much like a personal journey for the illustrator. So reading his bio at the end didn't surprise me at all. This book really is his journey.

Read the rest of my review on my blog.

[Keyhan Mosavar · Rating 4 out of 5]

کتاب بی جمله ست و فقد تصاویر خط داستانی دارن.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

دخترک قلمی داشت که از دنیا میرهاندش و به جاهای جذاب و دنیای هیجان انگیز دیگه‌ای میبردتش.
من قلم نداشتم اما بازه هایی از عمرم وسایل موسیقی، بازه ای وسایل نقاشی، بازه ای فیلم و سریال، بازه ای انیمه و مانگا و کمیک و بازه هایی هم کتاب‌ها برام حکم قلم رو داشتن‌. حتی اونجا که قلمش رو از دست میده مثل وقت‌هاییه که این راه فرار و رهایی بخشی رو به هر دلیلی مجبور میشی کنار بذاری یا از دست میدی.
۲.۱۴۰۴

[Alexis Ayala · Rating 5 out of 5]

La imaginación siempre es el mejor transporte a mundos maravillosos.

[Carmen · Rating 5 out of 5]

No words, excellent and beautiful illustrations. Becker uses color masterfully.

A girl is bored with her grey house full of grey people doing grey things. Even her grey cat is sleeping and doesn't want to play.

Luckily, the girl finds a piece of red chalk. She draws a red doorway on the wall and escapes into a fantasy land. She draws herself a red boat and sails into the city. She draws herself a red hot air balloon and floats over the land.

Then she sees a beautiful purple bird getting captured by some samurai-type soldiers. She wants to save the bird. She frees the bird, but ends up imprisoned in a cage herself. The bird frees her by bringing her the red chalk. She draws a red magic carpet and flies away. The purple bird leads her to a purple door. When she goes through it, she discovers the bird's creator - a boy with a purple piece of chalk. Now she is friends with the boy and they will go on many adventures together.
...

Elements of Arabia, feudal Japan, and steampunk make this book a visual wonder. This book has a great message about using your imagination to escape boring situation, and how two children can use imagination together.

Gorgeous book. I highly recommend.

Since this book has no words at all, it is easy for any age of child to read on their own, without adult help. This is very appealing to children. Also, they love making up words and "reading" the story to adults, who have to sit patiently and listen to the (usually long-winded) stream of words from the toddler. This is a role-reversal that most escuincles enjoy very much.

[Zoë]

[Book #21 for my grad school Children's Lit class]

[Betsy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve encountered something new and exciting at this late stage of the game. For years I’ve been reviewing picture books written for children. Working with them on almost a day-to-day basis as a children's librarian, I did not doubt that my experience helped me to separate out the wheat from the chaff (so to speak). Then I had my own kiddo and together we were able to plumb the depths of the board book genre. Now the small child has grown quite fond of picture books, so together we’ve explored books that would be within her age range and those that are, perhaps, a tiny bit of a stretch. I will tell you right now that Journey by Aaron Becker is not intended for the toddler crowd. Not necessarily. With its fine attention to detail and jaw-dropping storyline, Becker has created a modern day classic in the midst of an overpopulated genre. That said, do not hesitate to introduce this book to any and all kiddos you have at hand. Give it to your teenagers. Give it to your ankle biters. The more people that sit down and take in the pages of the book, the better off the whole of humanity will be. For my part, I’m just delighted that repeated one-on-one readings of books like this one yield all sorts of additional information and details that will help my reviewing. There’s a lot to be said for this whole parenting thing, eh?

A girl is bored. Bored bored bored bored bored. With her mom cooking and yakking on the phone, her dad glued to his computer and her older sister consumed by some kind of electronic handheld device, there’s no one to play with. But when the girl’s cat reveals itself to have been sitting on a bright red writing implement (is it a marker, a crayon, or chalk?), she knows immediately what to do. A door is drawn on the wall of her room and passing through it instantly yields a glorious lantern lit world, replete with tall green trees and a meandering stream. When the girl draws a boat with which to explore the stream she is drawn into a massive water-driven city full of friendly residents, canals, and locks. An accidental slip over the side causes her to draw a hot air balloon and all is well until she spots a beautiful purple bird. Pursued by a relentless villain, the creature is caught and caged. Our heroine attempts a daring rescue but is caught herself in the attempt. Fortunately, things turn out well in the end and she finds that maybe in her humdrum drab little world at home there’s someone else there willing to share an adventure or two.

Seems this book can’t get a review without someone comparing it to Harold and the Purple Crayon. That’s fair, I suppose. After all, it’s about a kid creating solutions to the world around them with the help of a brightly colored . . . I guess I’ll call it a crayon, though at no point does it ever establish itself as one thing or another. And there’s even a falling-and-drawing-a-hot-air-balloon sequence that is straight up Harold, no question. That said, all other similarities to Harold stop right there. You see, I’ve always personally been a bit creeped out by Harold. Sure, I recognize the brilliance in the simple writing and the art is a dream to the eye in its minimalism. Yet there was always something cold and lonely to the Harold books. Nothing he draws ever moves. He’s creating his own reality, but everything he encounters originally sprouted from his own crayon. Journey is vastly different. Here our heroine meets new people, some of whom are friendly and some are not. She interacts with them. Instead of being limited to the world of her crayon, her crayon instead introduces her to whole new worlds she would never have seen otherwise. So while Harold exists in the cold white plain pages of a book, destined to provide only one color for variety, this girl uses her one color to explore other colors and other worlds and other people and cultures. There’s a metaphor just ah-brewing here, you know it, but I’ll leave it to you to extend it to its natural end.

Not afraid of architecture is Mr. Becker. Nope. Not a jot afraid. When you turn the pages of the book and see the castle-like city for the first time with its golden domes and green parasol-carrying residents, it’s a jaw-dropper. Honestly awe-inspiring. I may have to credit it with my daughter’s current obsession now with castles. The first person it made me think of, actually, was David Macaulay. Macaulay’s books featuring expansive architecture are the closest kin to what Becker is doing here. But unlike Macaulay, Becker does not seem to sport any actual degrees in architecture. He’s a trained artist, and clearly a well-trained one, but if he excels in this area it is due to his talent rather than his experience. I then showed this book to my husband and he looked at it with interest. “It has a lot of similarities to Avatar: The Last Airbender,” he pointed out. Boy howdy, I’m glad he pointed that out. It most certainly does! I don’t know how many of you have taken the time to studiously watch the Nickelodeon hit animated television show, but in truth there’s a lot of Avatar to be found here. From the city with the waterways and locks to the boats in the sky to even the sensation of flying over unfamiliar cities and lands, at the very least this makes a darned good companion to “Avatar”, if not an outright introduction to it.

I don’t know how many authors and illustrators know this, but in my experience there are a lot of teachers out there who send their students into libraries to ask for wordless picture books. Often these are used for writing exercises where the kids write the plot of the books, but once in a while you’d get a creative soul who understands that visual storytelling is the great unifier. Take a kid from another country that has recently immigrated, hand them a wordless book, and watch as they find (much to their own relief) that they are able to “read” the text. This goes for reluctant readers and kids that are reading below their grade levels. It’s also great for very young readers who cannot yet read words but delight in telling stories. Becker easily could have added text to this book. It wouldn’t have been pretty, but it could have happened. Instead, he and his editor and even his publisher took a chance and let the images and the storytelling do the talking. Sometimes you have to shut your trap to truly hear what a book has to say.

I’ll confess a small quibble I had at one point involving the villain. There’s not a ton of diversity in this book, and I do prefer titles that aren’t afraid to show folks from a variety of different races. That’s why I was a bit unnerved at first by the baddie. Dressed in full regalia worthy of a villain, with his Fu Manchu moustache and samurai dress, there’s something distinctly Asian about him. This struck me as a bit unfortunate, but upon closer examination I realized that I couldn’t tell the race of the girl either. And for that matter, it’s not like Becker is pinpointing a single nation or ethnicity as his big bad. There appear to be Egyptian decals on some of his architecture. His house for the bird has a somewhat pagoda look to it. Maybe I’m justifying everything, but it seems to me that Becker was trying more than anything else to have a bad guy who was easy to spot (note the golden helmet) and that looked different from the residents of the water-based city. Becker himself spent time in Japan, I believe, so it’s not out of the question that his art style might be affected, but I hardly think he’s guilty of playing on stereotypes.

There is a very different argument against this book that I should address, however. I was at a nice little shindig the other day, talking with librarians about picture books we think should win big awards and the subject of Journey came up. “Oh,” said a woman to me, “I love it, but one of my librarians had a real problem with the gun.” I blinked a little and then searched my memory banks. The gun? I had no idea the book had a gun. Well, you can bet I ran back home and looked the book over cover to cover. After some work I finally located the alleged “gun”. It’s tricky, but I think this is what the woman meant. There is a scene in the book where the bad guy is seen from a distance, directing his two men to place the captured purple bird in a cage. He is pointing at them, but the way Becker drew the image the hand takes on the shape of, yes, a teeny tiny gun. This is clearly a quirk of the art. Look on a previous page and you can see the villain doing the same hand movement in his little airship, just with his fingers (some folks think his hand is a gun as well, but if you look you'll see that the colors of said "gun" are the same as his arm, suggesting that this is just a very insistent pointer finger). That same pointing movement is replicated on the next page, but because of an extra bump of his glove, the hand itself looks somewhat gun like. Of course, it would make NO sense for it to even be a gun. The baddie is just directing his men. He’s not holding them up at gunpoint. More to the point, if this guy was to carry a gun, a typical handgun wouldn't make a lick of sense. He's sport a blunderbuss or something that fits in with the environment around him. Plus, why would he be waving a gun at a bird he just wants to capture and cage? This is just a quirk of an image. A person reads into it what they themselves want to see. If you want to see a gun, you'll see a gun, but trust me when I say it's just going to be wishful thinking on your part.

Usually when we talk about stunning wordless picture books we talk about artist David Wiesner. With his three gold Caldecott medals and who knows how many awards to his name, it’s nice when someone else can also give us a glimpse into whole new worlds. Becker’s debut isn’t afraid to go epic on his first turn around the block. Packed with details, the book rewards readings and rereadings. It’s a true original, though it certainly harkens back to classic picture books of yore. I don’t get to use this word very often when I’m talking about books for young children but I’m going to dust it off and use it now: Beautiful. There’s no other way to describe “Journey”. Take your own today.

For ages 2 and up.

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful illustrated children's book, one of the best books I have read this year. It's also Aaron Becker's first book, and it's also wordless. It of course owes its main idea to Harold and the Purple Crayon, and the idea that a kid with a coloring crayon can change his or her world. But Crockett Johnson keeps it simple and clean, and Becker builds on the idea to suggest that this act adds color and shape and ecstatic invention to a child's, or anyone's world. Basic point--that the imagination matters, that creativity enriches, that it is essential to our world--but it is such a needed reminder in the Common Core world of argumentation and textual exegesis. A simple reminder, but fundamental, timeless. A classic everyone will know at some point, I am quite sure!

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will start with the artistry, which is absolutely gorgeous throughout. The images alone leave you breathless, and as I read this with my kids, I found myself staring at each page for quite a while just to soak it all in. Aaron Becker's talent draws you in from the front cover to the very end. I was reminded a bit of Bluebird (which I also loved) as I read, though the drawings in this book are so much more developed and majestic. The vibrancy of the colors, the complexity of the lines, the whimsical nature of the images...it's all so, so beautiful. Just brilliant.

I am a huge fan of wordless books, particularly when they offer such opportunity for imagination to ignite and growth to take place on behalf of the reader, be it a child or an adult. The "story" becomes so much more meaningful when you are given license to be a part of it--literally help create it as you go, even though there might be a preconceived idea in the mind of the author. This is one of those books.

The amount of insight you gain into the little girl's character is astounding; whether it be a slight shrug or a purposeful movement, a sketch with her crayon or a look on her face, she moves you on every page. And the innocence she emotes juxtaposed with the inherent strength and power she possesses give you a such a sense of pride. She offers such possibilities; she reminds you why life is about hope.

I enjoyed the ending, which, though a bit of a twist, manages to tie everything together in a beautiful way...and I love that the reading of this story can and likely will change every time you pick it up. I read with my kids, and we took turns "reading" the story, each of us taking two pages at a time. It was amazing to see where we took it and why; the creativity that emerged and the imagination that we brought to the story enhanced its meaning in profound ways. It was interesting to me to see that, regardless of their age differences (3,5,7,9), each of my children not only jumped at the chance to tell the story, but they caught on to each other's nuanced ways of engaging with the "text" and kind of came together full circle in fascinating, unexpected ways.

This is one of the best books I've read--for children and adults alike. Definitely a classic! Take the time to read it, and read it, and read it again. :)

[Hilary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imaginative story of a child with a magic pencil. No text, lovely book to look through alone, or to describe what's happening.

[Colby · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is, in my opinion, an essential book for parents and non-parents alike. It is a work of literature, stunning in its artistry, poetic in its imagery, minimalism, and allusions.

What you have here is a wordless storybook. It is, I would suggest, more a work of art, a collection of linked paintings that tell a story. Our main character (nameless), seeks refuge from her disconnected life in the adventures she creates with her red crayon. Sound like a book we've all read and loved? Stay with me. She journeys, with her crayon, into a beautifully imagined world and an adventure. I really don't want to ruin the BRILLIANT (boy how I wish FB would let me italicize) twist ending, but I will say that this is so much more than an homage to HAROLD AND THE PURPLE CRAYON, it is an extension of it, a tribute to it, a joining of worlds.

I read this book with my three-and-a-half-year-old son last night and he was enthralled. In spite of the fact that there were no words, he was gripped. Why? The lack of a defined way of telling this story allowed us to tell it ourselves. Tonight, when we read it again, it will be slightly different. New words will be used to give voice to the story told through the images. Every time we read this book, it will become new. That is special.

I can't speak highly enough of this book. Even as an adult I read it and appreciate what it does. Absolutely stunning. Brilliant in every way. Please, do yourself a favor, spend the fourteen or fifteen bucks and get this. Cherish it. Because your child (or you) will read it at 3, at 5, at 10, at 16, at 30, at 80.

This is a book I would, as a teacher, work into units from kindergarten through graduate school. How many books can you say that about? Incredible.

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bored and lonely, a young girl tries to attract the attention of her parents and her older sister in this wordless picture-book, only to find herself relegated to the background. Retreating to her room, she finds a magical red marker and draws a door into another world. Here, in this magical realm, she visits a majestic city, frees a captive bird, and escapes from the angry humans intent on punishing her.

Redolent with references to other beloved works of the fantastic - the girl's marker reminded me of Harold and the Purple Crayon ; while the captive bird, held prisoner by some sort of imperial power, hinted at Andersen's The Nightingale - Journey is an immensely engaging tale, for all that it is told solely through illustration. Its Caldecott Honor was richly deserved, as the artwork is detailed and enchanting. I particularly enjoyed the fact that the girl's journey was precipitated by a marker revealed when her cat stirred himself from his nap! I am looking forward to the sequel, Quest , and recommend this one to anyone looking for good wordless picture-books, or stories featuring fantastic happenings.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wordless picture book about a girl who is lonely and uses a magic piece of chalk to "draw" herself into a different world and vehicles to travel upon. It is executed well, and shows the creative side of using your imagination.

[Kristi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this one, think the girl may be to young for it though.... she was up off my lap before we had hardly gotten started

[Shiloah · Rating 5 out of 5]

The illustrations were AMAZING!! And we liked the crayon idea it reminded us of “Harold and the Purple Crayon”.

[Ghazaal B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I.Just. Can't. Handle. This. Amount. Of. Beauty.

[La Coccinelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'd never heard of Journey. My mom heard about it somewhere, though, and she borrowed it from the library. I borrowed it from her. And I was completely enchanted by it.

There are no words in the book, just pictures. And what amazing pictures they are! They're incredibly detailed, yet also simple. It looks like the illustrator used a variety of materials to create the pictures. Throughout much of the book, cool and muted colours are used, so the touches of red really stand out. There's also a steampunk-ish flavour to some of the illustrations, which I wasn't expecting (but which I really liked).

Despite the fact that there is no text, the book actually has a really good story. There's a beginning, a middle, and an end, and they're so clear that you could be forgiven for thinking that there are actual words on the pages. I was having so much fun as I "read" the book, that I actually exclaimed a few times; I was really into it.

This may be a children's book, but I can see it having much broader appeal than that. It seems to be popular among adults as well, and I totally understand why. It's fun, it's cute, it's engaging, and it's skillfully done. It's one of the best picture books I've read!

http://theladybugreads.blogspot.ca/20...

[Mir · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought the central device owed a bit too much to Harold and the Purple Crayon, but other than that I thought the illustrations and story were excellent. I especially liked the castle full of aqueducts.

[Kari · Rating 3 out of 5]

Harold and the Purple Crayon, 2.0

[KC · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a red crayon can do!

[Kathryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved Journey and will seek out Becker's other works. It's a beautiful, poignant and, ultimately, uplifting look at how art can led us out of ourselves and our own situations and help us connect with others.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you ever read my reviews, you know that I am not a big fan of wordless books (Bluebird being a prime example of my dislike). When I opened the books and saw no words I was thinking "Great, another boring book I have to create a story line for with inferences from pictures that are overwhelming and usually too many...sigh" but then I caught the spirit of it and started to like it. The pictures are great, and imagination of the girl is spectacular. So, if you pick this one up, have your child 'tell' the story and see what you think.

[Amy (Other Amy) · Rating 5 out of 5]

GORGEOUS. Wordless story, all picture. Something like The Girl Who Ran Away meets Ico. Nephew isn't old enough for this one either, but I may have to buy it for ME. And now I see it's a trilogy. I will be looking into Quest ASAP.

[lilac · Rating 5 out of 5]

یه کتاب چطوری می‌تونه انقدر زیبا و قشنگ باشه؟

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

To check out my review: http://dancinginth3dark.blogspot.com

When I first read this book it was in 2014 and I was at my only independent bookstore walking around waiting for my parent to pick me up after watching a film at the movie theater thats in front of this bookstore. I saw this book on display in the children's section and I remember that I saw this book somewhere on Goodreads and discovered I had added it to my TBR pile and decided to read it since it is a children's picture book.

I really enjoyed it the first time I read this magical story and once I rated it I moved on with my life. I didn't know how to write a review for books at the time and I fell into this predicament where I rated books in the past and yet I do not remember a single thing about the characters, plot, or why I rated it 5 stars. Recently this book came into my subconscious again as I saw someone writing a review for this beautiful book and discovered that its now a series. I checked my local library and saw that they had the first two books available so I decided to check them out.

This children's picture-book does not have any words and lets the animation tell the story. I always find that type of experiment to be difficult because how can you properly tell the story without two pages of illustrations at a time? Well, Aaron Becker is a genius because I understood everything that I read and the images tell a spectacular story. The attention to detail and artwork is beautiful and I was blown away by it for this book.

We meet a girl who wants to have fun and play with her parents or sibling. They are all busy and complicated at the moment so she retreats to her room. She watches her cat get up and leave the floor and next to her where the cat was laying is red chalk. The girl grabs it and immediately draws a door which opens to this magical world.



The girl is entranced by this magnificent forest and decides to explore where the path leads and uses her chalk to draw a boat, a hot air balloon, and witness different cities and aircrafts never seen before on Earth. She gets absorbed into this world and along the way she sees a mystical bird trapped in a cage. The bird is being watched by security guards and luckily the girl is able to retrieve the bird and set it free.

The bird guides the girl as they escape from these guards and soon they find themselves in the forest again except there is a purple door. The bird tells the girl to open it and we enter back to our world except the girl makes a new friend who has a purple chalk and created the bird. The story ends there but the adventure is only the beginning.

I cannot brag enough about this book and my book review does not give it justice. I recommend of people of all ages to read it because its both entertaining and makes the reader wonder what lies behind a door and what type of world can these characters enter with that magical chalk. I believe this book is phenomenal and deserves all the hype, awards, and attention it deserves and I cannot wait to see the direction of where this series will go.