Book Review: Journey by Aaron Becker

Some books leave you dreamy-eyed and awestruck at their utter brilliance. Books that leave an indelible mark on your conscious. Books so beautiful they stay with you long after you’ve read them. Journey, the debut work of Aaron Becker — a designer-turned-children’s book author, easily falls into this category. Created with exquisitely detailed illustrations in water color, pen and ink, Journey is a wordless picture book which tells the story of a little girl and her escape into an unknown magical land. Wordless books allow ‘readers’ to bring their own interpretation to a story and Becker’s strong visual narrative ensures that readers will find new meaning in multiple readings of the book.

The story begins as an ordinary girl on an ordinary day tries to engage her busy family in play. The illustrations of her home depict a dull, brownish gray place with only the girl’s kite, scooter and ball in red. Unsuccessful at getting them to leave their computers, phones and other devices, she returns to her room where she uses a red crayon to draw a door on her bedroom wall and escape into a colorful world rife with magic and danger. Illustrations of the new world are filled with color and detail with full-page spreads of castles with moats and waterways, steampunk vehicles, and a magical purple bird. Each time she faces an obstacle, the little girl uses her crayon to draw a clever escape. But what will she do when the sinister soldiers of this magical land capture her and throw her crayon away?

This beautifully told, award-winning picture narrative offers hours of intriguing open-ended discussions and countless details to pour over on every page. Journey is the first in a wordless trilogy by Becker, and is followed by Quest and Return. You can learn more about the making of journey here.