Did you or your young reading companion enjoy Harold and the purple crayon or the Bear Hunt books by Anthony Browne when your child was younger? Journey, Quest and Return feel like grown up sequels to these famous titles. They show the power of imagination, problem solving and determination.
Journey was written/illustrated in 2013 but the opening scenes are so very relevant for today as we see a young lonely girl and her busy, tech-distracted parents. Red is her signature colour. She tries to ask her mum to come with her on her red scooter; she shows her dad her red kite and she then tries to entice her brother with her red ball but no one will listen. The young girl retreats to her bedroom and on the floor she sees a red crayon. In one beautiful, liberating moment, she draws an arched doorway onto her wall and walks through to an amazing adventure. I could almost hear the buzz of the night noises as she steps into an enchanted forest bedecked with fairy lights and Chinese lanterns.
As each point in her adventure she pulls out her red crayon and draws a solution such as a small red boat to take along the river. The river leads to an amazing city a little like some you may associate with Anno. Water filled viaducts lead her through the city but when she finds herself at the top of a waterfall she quickly draws a red hot air balloon. Now things take another twist as we see the sky filled with strange flying machines a little like the ones you might associate with Steampunk. On one machine she sees a caged bird. A beautiful huge orange feathered creature that she somehow instinctively knows needs to be rescued.
In the ensuing battle she drops her crayon - I gasped. But luckily her kindness to the bird, who has been set free, is rewarded and so her precious tool is returned. She still needs to escape and so she draws a red flying carpet. The purple bird leads her to another arched door and there she meets a boy with is own crayon but his is purple. Clearly the bird is his friend. The girl and boy create a wonderful bicycle with red and purple wheels and they cycle off together into the unknown. Where do they go?
Open up to the title page of the next book - Quest - and you can see the boy and girl are on their way to another wonderful adventure which then continues in Return.
I love the way these three books by Aaron Becker have been designed to make a set. The end of each one appears on the title page of the next. Even the position of the author name on the cover has been thought through and kept consistent.
These are books to read slowly, to reread and to explore with a friend paying careful attention to every tiny detail. I especially love the inventive architecture of the city that the girl discovers.
If you cannot get your hands on the print copies of these books I found some videos all of them run for about 9 minutes each and they are well done. Journey (turn off the sound if it intrudes). Quest video. Return video.
Journey review comments
Kirkus Star review: An imaginative adventure story whose elaborate illustrations inspire wonder, careful examination and multiple reads.
School Library Journal (Betsy Bird) 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.
Quest review comments:
Kirkus star review: Breathtaking in scope, consider this a wordless testament to the power of not just imagination, but art itself; picture books rarely feel this epic.
Return review comments:
Kirkus Star review: A fantastic final leg to a reading journey that altered, expanded, and enriched the landscape of children's literature—and surely many young people's lives
Here is a video where you can see Aaron talking about his book and drawing Journey.
Journey blurb from Candlewick: 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? There are lots of extra resources on this page.
Quest blurb from Candlewick: A king emerges from a hidden door in a city park, startling two children sheltering from the rain. No sooner does he push a map and some strange objects into their hands than he is captured by hostile forces that whisk him back through the enchanted door. Just like that, the children are caught up in a quest to rescue the king and his kingdom from darkness, while illuminating the farthest reaches of their imagination. Colored markers in hand, they make their own way through the portal, under the sea, through a tropical paradise, over a perilous bridge, and high in the air with the help of a winged friend
Return blurb from Candlewick: Failing to get the attention of her busy father, a lonely girl turns back to a fantastic world for friendship and adventure. It’s her third journey into the enticing realm of kings and emperors, castles and canals, exotic creatures and enchanting landscapes. This time, it will take something truly powerful to persuade her to return home, as a gripping backstory is revealed that will hold readers in its thrall.
Aaron Becker has just published another spectacular wordless book - The Tree and the River. Our Australian review journal Magpies will feature this book in their next issue.
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