With Return, Aaron Becker completes his magical, wordless trilogy. Fueled by imagination, creativity and adventure, readers have followed a young girl as she copes with loneliness, opening a door to another world with the help of a red crayon in Journey. In Quest, our hero finds a friend and a new adventure, pulled back into another world by a king who needs their help.
In Return, our hero is slumped against the door of her father's study, red kite in hand and red rubber ball at her feet, wishing he would pay attention to her instead of the work before him on his drafting table. When she fails to get his attention, she heads to her room where she draws a door on her wall, returning to her kingdom. When her father realizes his daughter is nowhere to be found, he discovers the magical door and follows.
Becker closes his trilogy perfectly, bringing a third character into this world, connecting father and daughter. The two face a villain who has a mysterious box that gives him the power to vacuum up the creations brought to life by the red, purple and yellow magical crayons held by the girl, her friend and the king of this world. As they race to defeat him and rescue the king, they discover a sea cave where ancient drawings on the walls give them the direction they need in the magical world and back at home.
I can't think of a trilogy of picture books, wordless or otherwise, that creates a world filled with adventure, architecture and creativity like the one that Becker has gifted readers with. If you aren't sure how to read a wordless picture book out loud or what sort of magic can happen when you fall into one as special as this, be sure to read How to Read a Picture Book without Words Out Loud and/or my review of the second book in this trilogy, Quest.
The first two books in this trilogy
with links to my reviews:
The gorgeously rich illustrations, magic filled setting and wordless story of The Only Child by Guojing reminded me immediately of The Arrival by Shaun Tan. While Tan's book always feels deeply rooted in our world and the immigrant experience, despite the magical creatures and moments, Guojing's book beings in a foreign but familiar feeling city then flies off to a magic filled world of wonderful creatures and billowy clouds.
The Only Child begins with an author's note that frames the story perfectly. Guojing writes of growing up in China in the 1980s under the one-child policy. Her graphic novel grew out of a childhood experience that was common for children her age, which she refers to as a "very lonely generation." Put on a bus to her grandmother's as a six year old, Guojing fell asleep and woke up lost, crying and walking as she tried to find her way home. The Only Child begins with a cheerfully rumpled little girl waking in the morning just as her mother is leaving for work. A series of panels show her entertaining herself for a while, then looking at pictures in her scrapbook. A picture of her grandmother inspires her and she gets dressed, combs her hair, leaves a note and packs a tiny purse before heading out into the snowy, industrial, crowded city.
Guojing's illustrations of the city, the factories in the distance, the small houses, the tall apartment buildings, lumberyards, shops and the many electric bus lines are compelling, especially when viewed in the slightly grim sepia and grey tones of of the graphic novel.
The little girl falls asleep on the bus and wakes to a quiet, snowy forest. She begins to make her way through the forest, crying as she moves forward, until she sees a stag. Something about the beast encourages her to follow and soon she finds herself grabbing the horn of the stag and pulling herself onto its back. The two ascend a stairway of clouds to a pillowy land filled with play and exploration.
The pair find a new friend that looks a bit like a white otter crossed with a baby polar bear as well as an enormous, cloud surfing whale. These scenes create a quiet, ethereal world that is easy to sink into as you explore page after page, sunk in the atmosphere. It's even more amazing when you consider the limited palette that Guojing uses to evoke this blissful time. While fear, sadness and loneliness are part of the story, they feel far away for most of it. And the girl's return to her parents is, or course, a joyous one.
Describing it here, The Only Child sounds like a simple story, and in many ways it is. The unforgettable beauty of Guojing's book is everything she creates within the bounds of this simple story - the feelings she evokes, the memories, the warmth and the connection are anything but simple.
Pool is the debut picture book from South Korean illustrator JiHyeon Lee and it is marvelously magical - and wordless! Pool has the very qualities of a wordless picture book - superb illustrations and rich imagination - that have made this genre a favorite of mine. I was very happy to read the review of Pool in the New York Times by another favorite author of mine, Emily Jenkins (read
BEFORE AFTER by Matthias Aregui and Anne-Margot Ramstein is truly a unique book that is hard to classify. Smaller than a picture book in trim size, longer than a picture book in page count, an not exactly a graphic novel, BEFORE AFTER is best described as a meditation. The title says it all, but the choices the authors make in images of before and after they choose to present are anything but
Journey by Aaron Becker was definitely one of the most exciting picture books of 2013 and I was thrilled when it won a Caldecott Honor in January of this year. As someone who has read books out loud professionally and parentally for over 20 years and as someone who holds a deep appreciation for picture book illustrations, wordless picture books have always held a special place in my heart.
The Girl and the Bicycle is the newest wordless picture book from Mark Pett, author of The Boy and the Airplane. Pett's charcoal and watercolor sketches on pages in varying shades of sepia and grays add to the retro style of his illustrations, which perfectly suits this simple story that gives readers a lot to talk about.
Walking down the street, her little brother in tow, our heroine spots
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Aron Becker's debut picture book Journey is, as the New York Times says, a "masterwork." I couldn't agree more. Becker's book evokes the amazing wordless, circular
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Inside Outside by Lizi Boyd is such a charming, sweet book and is so rich with details that it deserves to be read over and over - by you! I have no doubt that, in
It is an egregious oversight on my part, especially considering the article I wrote, How to Read a Picture Book Without Words and the label on my blog, Stories Without Words, featuring wordless picture books, that I have never reviewed a book by Suzy Lee until now. Lee is from South Korea and has a MA in Book Arts from Camberwell College of Arts in London which sounds like just about the
If you don't know the work of Arthur Geisert, please click on his name for my reviews of his books. He is truly an amazing author and artist and his picture books will be on the shelves decades from now, maybe next to those of Richard Scary and Maurice Sendak, providing they aren't shelved alphabetically. If you do know Geistert's work, then you have been waiting anxiously for The Giant Seed,
Tomorrow, along with reviews of three brilliant wordless picture books, I will re-post an article I wrote back in November of 2008 titled "How to Read a Book Without Words (Out Loud)." But first, Arthur Geister's newest picture book which also happens to be wordless! Ice is part of a superb new series of books being published by Enchanted Lion Books called Stories Without Words, and Geisert's
In her new book, "Mirror", Jeannie celebrates the differences that makes up the diversity of world cultures and the elements that unite us, the bonds of family and the mundanities of every day life.
Even the presentation, as two books united within one cover, highlights 'same and different', but highlights it in a way that draws us closer to both families, the traditional Moroccan family and the modern Australian family.
Turning pages of each book simultaneously, reveals parallel aspects of the daily lives of these very different families. We see them with the intimacy and immediacy of a fly on the wall. They are at work, at meals, settling for the night, shopping and sharing. The colours are luminous and the details absorptive. Words are superfluous!
I have always been a fan of Jeannie Baker's beautiful, evocative, detailed collages. This latest book is a treasure!
"Mirror" by Jeannie Baker, Walker Books, ISBN 978-1-4063-0914-0.
Cool!<br />We have enjoyed his others (thanks to your recommendations)