journey aaron becker theme

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This wonderful book follows a little girl who draws a magic door on her bedroom wall. Through it she escapes into a world where wonder, adventure and danger abound. Red marker pen in hand, she creates a boat, a balloon and a flying carpet which carry her on a spectacular journey … who knows where?

Teaching Ideas and Resources:

• Use the title as the starting point for your own story. What might your own story about a ‘Journey’ include?
• Look at the illustrations on the front, back and inside covers. Discuss what you think it might be about.
• As you explore the illustrations in the book, try to find features that might be clues about the rest of the story.
• Think of your own captions, speech / thought bubbles to add to the illustrations.
• Make a word bank that includes words you could use to describe the people, places and events in the story.
• Create a narrative version of the story. Could you turn it into a playscript?
• Imagine that you had a pen that could be used to draw (and create) real objects. What would you draw? Could you write a new story based on this concept?
• Write a character profile about the girl. What do you know about her? How would you describe her?
• Retell the story from the girl’s point of view. Could you write a diary entry for her?
• Write a prequel to this story that explains where the magic red pen came from. Who owned it before the girl? Who made it? Why does it have special powers?
• Choose one of the settings in the story. How would you describe it?
• Write a newspaper article about a girl who goes missing through a magical doorway in her bedroom.
• Write a newspaper article about the girl who arrived in the city in a red boat.
• Stop reading when the girl first arrives at the city. Should she go in? Why (not)? Share your thoughts with others and vote on what you think should happen next.
• Why is the purple bird being hunted by the people?

• Create a game in which a girl has to rescue a special purple bird.
• Create a video that shows the illustrations in the book and is accompanied by your own narration / speech.
• Watch this trailer for the book. Could you use multimedia software to create your own book trailer?

Design Technology

• Create a model of one of the airships in the illustrations.
• Imagine that you could draw a magic door from your classroom / bedroom wall into another world. Draw the view to the other side.
• Create a picture that shows what the girl can see at your favourite point in the story.
• Could you create an additional page (or group of pages) that tells a different part of the story? Could you draw a sequel to this book?
• The illustrations were created using watercolour paints. Can you try to paint using a similar style?
• Look at the different characters in the story. Can you create your own illustrations of them? This video has some tips from the author / illustrator:

• Compose a theme tune to accompany a movie version of this story.
• Draw a map of the city the girl encounters.
• How many different forms of transport can you find in the book?
• Imagine that you had a flying carpet. Where would you travel to? Why?
• Plan your own ‘Journey’. Where will you go? How will you get there? What will you need to take?
• Find out about famous journeys, explorers and expeditions from history.

Religious education

• Why do people sometimes go on special journeys as part of their religion? Can you find out more about these?
• Look at the body language of the characters in the illustrations. What might they be thinking / feeling? How can you tell?

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BOOKS JOURNEY

A 2014 Caldecott Honor Book

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.

“Though Becker has plenty of experience as an artist for films, “Journey” is his first book, and it’s a masterwork.” — New York Times Book Review

Click here to order JOURNEY from bookshop.org and help support independent booksellers across the country!

• FILM DESIGN
• FILM DESIGN: animatics
• holding pen
• ILLUSTRATION
• Teachers, Librarians & Parents

© 2013-2024 Aaron Becker All Rights Reserved.

Journey: A Beautiful Wordless Story About the Power of the Imagination

By maria popova.

In this wonderful short film, Becker cracks open his creative process and invites us in for a peek:

There’s a delicate balance between controlling what you’re doing and … letting it go.

Journey is absolutely wonderful and bewitching in its entirety.

Images copyright © 2013 by Aaron Becker. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Candlewick Press, Somerville, MA.

— Published April 11, 2014 — https://www.themarginalian.org/2014/04/11/journey-aaron-becker/ —

www.themarginalian.org

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Crushing Krisis

Comic Books, Drag Race, & Life in New Zealand

Children’s Book Review: The Journey Trilogy by Aaron Becker

November 5, 2016 by krisis

[Patreon-Nov16-Post-Bug][/Patreon-Nov16-Post-Bug]The first time I encountered a wordless picture book for children was  Journey at my mother’s house nearly a year ago. Long before we had ventured to the library she was already cycling through books for EV every time she visited.

Over the summer, E bought EV a wordless book called  Pool . I was skeptical of it at first, recalling EV’s disinterest in  Journey . Then, I watched something magic begin to happen. E kept making up the story of  Pool , and EV began to  interact with the story . Sometimes she interjected to add something from a prior telling, others she inserted her own details.

I took a turn reading it to her, and I noticed different facets of it than E, so my telling was a shade different. If I asked nicely enough and didn’t make a big deal about it, EV would even “read”  Pool to me.

Pool was one of our most-read books during the summer. When E was listing off books from her want-list for our request list for the library and mentioned  Journey , my ears pricked up.

I wondered – how would EV like the book now that she was older and more engaged in the shared creation of a story? Would  Journey include both enough narrative and enough ambiguity to make for as interesting a read as Pool?

What a difference a few months made!

The Journey Trilogy: Journey, Quest , and Return by Aaron Becker 

Gender Diversity: Female protagonist; most other characters are male, although background characters are sometimes agender.

Ethnic Diversity: None, unfortunately

Challenging Language: None!

Themes to Discuss: imagination, fantasy, canals, cooperation

Reading Time: Depends on the reader! Between 4-15 minutes each, for us.

The Journey Trilogy by Aaron Becker is a beautiful, brilliant, fantastical trio of wordless adventure books by with a capable little girl hero, each with plenty of room for interpretation and expansion in the retelling. Becker proves himself an ingenious storyteller with an eye for detail and a knack for tantalizing ambiguity.

Journey   is the story of a young girl who uses a piece of red chalk to travel to a fantastic world by drawing a door on her bedroom walk. In that world, she learns that the chalk can draw anything out of thin air.

After sailing through a town built on a series of canals, she encounters a group of soldiers flying in zeppelins are trying to catch a vivid purple bird. The girl tries to save the bird, but she’s captured herself, and the two work together so she can get free. The bird leads her to a door just like her own, except it’s the same color as the bird! On the other side, she is back in the real world down the street from her house, where she meets a boy with purple chalk.

The easiest example is the red chalk itself. The girl finds it on the floor of her room. Is it the first time she has encountered it? The natural urge is to say yes, as that fits with how stories like this one are usually told. However, she already owns a matching red scooter and red ball which she has been carrying around the house with her. Is it a coincidence that red is her favorite color, or had she created with the chalk before?

These points of interpretation abound in  Journey , and they’re part of what makes it so fun in the retelling. Does the girl mean to steer her little red boat to the top of the highest canal? Is it she or the the bird who engineers the magic carpet that will fit through the bars of her cage? Where do she and the boy find the body of a bike that they draw wheels for at the end of the book?

That’s what makes  Journey perfect for a small reader who can interact with you while you read. The details that EV noticed and questions she asked shaped out version of the story. Sometimes it’s a very plain, descriptive version that simply explains the action on each page. Others it unfurls in the telling like a florid fairy tale, full of little asides and descriptions of the girl’s inner monologue.

Journey would already be a surefire recommendation if it stood alone, but Aaron Becker extended the story into two additional books –  Quest and  Return – that are somehow even more captivating than  Journey itself!

Return begins similarly to  Journey  – the girl decides to travel to her secret world when her father doesn’t play with her. This time, her father follows her to her room and discovers the open door and the fantastical world on the other side. He finds the girl, boy, and king meeting together, but they’re interrupted with the guards and a machine that can vacuum up their colorful creations – and their chalk! A chase ensues, in which the girl’s father sees all the ingenious ways she’s learned how to use the chalk. However, they have to work together to figure out how to protect the girl’s red chalk from capture and free the king and the boy from the grips of the guards.

There is so much to love in both books, but I’ll simply highlight my favorite element of each.

My main telling has the boy as much more tentative and unsure than the girl to emphasize how strong encouragement makes her a good leader and friend. However, there are other times I put them on more equal footing, or have them bicker amusingly. Sometimes the girl is cautious, while others she is headstrong and needs to be reeled back in by the boy.

Each person I’ve watched read it with EV gives the pair their own balance. The only thing you cannot really exclude is that the girl is clearly the protagonist of the series.

Return is  The Empire Strikes Back of the trilogy, because the introduction of the father to the story includes several potentially mind-blowing revelations that fundamentally change the story depending on how much you fixate on the details of the book.

• The father appears to be drawing at his work desk – what is his job or hobby?
• A door similar to the girl’s can be spotted in the father’s office early in the book. Does it already (or did it ever) lead to the fantasy world?
• The father and the girl both have looks of shock on their faces when they meet in the fantasy world. What is it that surprises each of them? What is it that causes the girl’s subsequent cross-armed reticence?
• The girl and her father encounter a series of seemingly prophetic sketches in a cave. How did they get there?
• Did the father always have the ability to draw in the world with his gray work pencil, or did something happen to cause it to be useful? And, do you think the gray looks similar to the gray of the guard’s armor?

If you read between the lines in those questions, you can see that there is an intriguing meta-narrative about the father that might change the meaning of the prior books depending on your interpretation. This is just one example of how the books open themselves up to growing in the retelling.

When I evaluate if a purchase was worthwhile, I do so on a matrix of dollars invested vs. time enjoyed vs. intensity of enjoyment. If I apply that matrix to the  Journey  books they are a relatively flat shape of nearly infinity length and width – meaning, they weren’t that expensive but there is  no end to the time and amount of enjoyment EV gets from them. She walks around the house with them clutched tightly to her little chest, and will sit for an hour retelling the stories to her stuffed animals and toys.

My sole critique of Journey is that Becker missed an easy opportunity to diversify his cast in making the little boy anything other than white. We don’t meet any of his relatives (OR DO WE?), so his whiteness doesn’t create consistency with any other element of the book. Having him be a kid of color who makes fast friends with the girl and joins in her adventure would only add to the wordless power of these books in displaying friendship, loyalty, and cooperation.

The  Journey  Trilogy is breathtaking modern classic of fantasy from Aaron Becker that can captivate kids from age 2 to 102. All it takes to enjoy them is an imagination and a willingness to get lost in the beautiful details of his fantasy world. If your toddler isn’t quite enough for it yet, she’ll get there.

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Awards & Accolades

Our Verdict

Kirkus Reviews' Best Books Of 2013

New York Times Bestseller

Caldecott Honor Book

From the Journey series , Vol. 1

by Aaron Becker ; illustrated by Aaron Becker ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 6, 2013

An imaginative adventure story whose elaborate illustrations inspire wonder, careful examination and multiple reads.

Ignored by her digitally distracted family, a girl draws a red door on her bedroom wall and steps through.

A lush green forest twinkles with lanterns and strung lights; a dizzying castle towers, its gates, turrets and halls linked by complicated waterways; a hovering aircraft festooned with propellers and wheels holds an imprisoned purple-plumed bird. Amid these marvels, the girl appears markedly ordinary with her common pageboy haircut, minimal facial features and simple clothes. She could be anyone, really, and readers will easily appropriate her journey as their own. Putty-colored grays and flat, boxy city shapes defined the girl’s urban reality, but here, color rules, modulating from mossy greens to slate blues to dusky purple—all punctuated with her crayon’s brilliant red and the yellow of a golden bird cage. White pages highlight action (the girl’s crayon whips up a boat, a hot air balloon and a magic carpet when needed), but most spreads deliver fantastically intricate pen, ink and watercolor architectural illustrations that remain playfully engrossing. They conjure contextual questions with no clear answers, or perhaps with so many answers one’s imagination finds itself opening door upon door and crossing thresholds, just as the girl did to escape loneliness. After freeing the bird, she needs its help for a quick escape through a small purple door back to her everyday street and back to a boy who wields an equally powerful purple crayon (an obvious and moving homage).

Pub Date: Aug. 6, 2013

ISBN: 978-0-7636-6053-6

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Candlewick

Review Posted Online: May 7, 2013

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2013

CHILDREN'S SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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More In The Series

BOOK REVIEW

by Aaron Becker ; illustrated by Aaron Becker

More by Aaron Becker

IZZY GIZMO AND THE INVENTION CONVENTION

From the izzy gizmo series.

by Pip Jones ; illustrated by Sara Ogilvie ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2020

A disappointing follow-up.

Inventor Izzy Gizmo is back in this sequel to her eponymous debut (2017).

While busily inventing one day, Izzy receives an invitation from the Genius Guild to their annual convention. Though Izzy’s “inventions…don’t always work,” Grandpa (apparently her sole caregiver) encourages her to go. The next day they undertake a long journey “over fields, hills, and waves” and “mile after mile” to isolated Technoff Isle. There, Izzy finds she must compete against four other kids to create the most impressive machine. The colorful, detail-rich illustrations chronicle how poor Izzy is thwarted at every turn by Abi von Lavish, a Veruca Salt–esque character who takes all the supplies for herself. But when Abi abandons her project, Izzy salvages the pieces and decides to take Grandpa’s advice to create a machine that “can really be put to good use.” A frustrated Izzy’s impatience with a friend almost foils her chance at the prize, but all’s well that ends well. There’s much to like: Brown-skinned inventor girl Izzy is an appealing character, it’s great to see a nurturing brown-skinned male caregiver, the idea of an “Invention Convention” is fun, and a sustainable-energy invention is laudable. However, these elements don’t make up for rhymes that often feel forced and a lackluster story.

Pub Date: March 1, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-68263-164-5

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Peachtree

Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

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by Pip Jones ; illustrated by Sara Ogilvie

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by James Yang ; illustrated by James Yang ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 23, 2019

The visual details invite interaction, making it a good choice for storytime or solo inspection.

It’s a quiet day, until….

“I have a bot!” An excited child’s happiness is short-lived, for the remote-controlled toy escapes its wireless tether and begins an ascent up the side of a skyscraper. The building’s doorman launches a race to recover the bot, and soon everyone wants to help. Attempts to retrieve the bot, which is rendered as a red rectangle with a propeller, arms, and a rudimentary face, go from the mundanity of a broom to the absurd—a bright orange beehive hairdo and a person-sized Venus’ flytrap are just some of the silly implements the building’s occupants use to try to rein in the bot. Each double-page spread reveals another level of the building—and further visual hijinks—as the bot makes its way to the top, where an unexpected hero waits (keep an eye out for falling bananas). The tall, narrow trim size echoes the shape of the skyscraper, providing a sense of height as the bot rises. Text is minimal; short declarations in tidy black dialogue bubbles with white courier-style typeface leave the primary-colored, blocky art to effectively carry the story. Facial expressions—both human and bot—are comically spot-on. The bot-owning child has light skin, and there are several people of color among those trying to rescue the bot. One person wears a kufi.

Pub Date: July 23, 2019

ISBN: 978-0-425-28881-8

Publisher: Viking

Review Posted Online: March 30, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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Journey, by Aaron Becker | Book Review

Book Review of  Journey The Children’s Book Review

Written and Illustrated by Aaron Becker

Ages 4+ | 40 Pages

Publisher: Candlewick | ISBN-13: 9780763660536

What to Expect: A Wordless Adventure

Sometimes there are no words to describe a book. And sometimes, there are no words in the actual book itself. Journey is one of those books—it’s both wordless and wondrous.

When a young girl draws a magic door on her bedroom wall and goes through it with her red marker, she leaves a drab-colored world and enters a magical world filled with color and adventure. Using a colored marker, she creates ways to navigate this unknown place: a boat, a balloon, a flying carpet, and a tandem bike. Amongst the world’s beauty, there is also danger, and an evil emperor captures the girl. How will she escape? How will she return home?

No spoiler here, but an unexpected friendship is the outcome of this incredibly gorgeous tale told only by the artwork on the pages. The little girl is adventurous, courageous, and kind and knows how to have fun. She will inspire you to take your own imaginative journey if you can tear yourself away from this incredible book.

The first book in a trilogy, Journey by Aaron Becker, won a most prestigious award—a Caldecott Honor Book in 2014.

Buy the Book

About the author-illustrator.

Aaron Becker has worked as an artist in the film and animation industry, 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 with his wife, daughter, and cat in Amherst, Massachusetts.

What to Read Next if You Love Journey by Aaron Becker

Quest , by Aaron Becker

Return , by Aaron Becker

The Tree and the River , by Aaron Becker

Harold and the Purple Crayon , by Crockett Johnson

Where the Wild Things Are , by Maurice Sendak

The Red Book , by Barbara Lehman

Bianca Schulze reviewed  Journey by Aaron Becker. Discover more books like  Journey  by reading our reviews and articles tagged with Adventure .

What to Read Next:

• Return, by Aaron Becker | Book Review
• Caldecott Award: Randolph Caldecott Medal Winner | 2014
• Aaron Becker Discusses ‘The Tree and the River’
• Mango, Abuela, and Me | Book Review

• X (Twitter)

Bianca Schulze is the founder of The Children’s Book Review. She is a reader, reviewer, mother and children’s book lover. She also has a decade’s worth of experience working with children in the great outdoors. Combined with her love of books and experience as a children’s specialist bookseller, the goal is to share her passion for children’s literature to grow readers. Born and raised in Sydney, Australia, she now lives with her husband and three children near Boulder, Colorado.

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Bookshelf: Up, Up and Away

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By Sarah Harrison Smith

• July 12, 2013

PLANES FLY! By George Ella Lyon Illustrated by Mick Wiggins 40 pp. A Richard Jackson Book/Atheneum. $17.99. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8)

For children intrigued by flight, Lyon has written an energetic and exciting book in rhyme about planes of all sorts: “Bi-planes / tri-planes / gotta-love-the-sky-planes / Prop planes / jet planes / how-fast-can-you-get-planes.” With the look of 1930s travel posters, Wiggins’s intensely colored pictures show planes at their most glamorous, zipping between storm clouds and swooping low over forest fires. Even the in-flight snacks look appealing. Perhaps the golden age of travel isn’t over after all.

DAREDEVIL The Daring Life of Betty Skelton Written and illustrated by Meghan McCarthy 48 pp. A Paula Wiseman Book/Simon & Schuster. $16.99. (Picture book, ages 4 to 8)

In the 1930s, growing up near a Navy base in Pensacola, Fla., Betty Skelton fell in love with flight. A self-described “half-pint,” Skelton nevertheless became a fearless stunt pilot, famous for cutting through a ribbon tied between two poles with her plane’s propeller — while flying upside down. She later broke records in high-altitude flying, car racing and “boat jumping” — and trained as an astronaut. McCarthy’s googly-eyed portraits make Skelton’s story amusing as well as inspiring.

Up, Up and Away

View Slide Show ›

JOURNEY Written and illustrated by Aaron Becker 40 pp. Candlewick Press. $15.99. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8)

Though Becker has plenty of experience as an artist for films, “Journey” is his first book, and it’s a masterwork. In a tale told solely through pictures, a lonely little girl in a dull, sepia-toned city picks up a red marker and draws a door on her bedroom wall. Through it, she enters a lushly detailed imaginary world where, with the marker’s help, she floats and flies through a dramatic escapade and returns home with a friend. Though that marker will make you think of Crockett Johnson’s “Harold and the Purple Crayon,” Becker’s book has a beauty distinctly its own.

THE BOY AND THE AIRPLANE Written and illustrated by Mark Pett 40 pp. Simon & Schuster. $15.99. (Picture book; ages 4 to 10)

Using a palette almost as quiet as his wordless text, Pett’s witty if subdued picture book tells the story of a little boy who receives a toy airplane as a gift. After it lands out of reach on a roof, he tries everything he can think of (lasso, baseball, pogo stick, fireman’s hose — even a ladder!) to get the plane down. Finally, the flight of a winged seed suggests another solution. Patience is amply rewarded, for both boy and reader.

FLYING SOLO How Ruth Elder Soared Into America’s Heart By Julie Cummins Illustrated by Malene R. Laugesen Roaring Brook Press. $17.99. (Picture book; ages 6 to 9)

In the 1920s, before Amelia Earhart flew across the Atlantic, Ruth Elder, a beauty queen with ambition, attempted a similar feat. Though she and her co-pilot had to ditch their plane, American Girl, two-thirds of the way across, Elder’s pioneering spirit made her famous. She starred in two silent movies and took part in the first cross-country air race flown by women, dismissively known as the Powder Puff Derby. Laugesen’s big, dramatic illustrations give the reader a good sense of the landscapes — and fashions — of the early-20th-century setting.

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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.

What Kind of Book is Journey

This is a beautiful wordless picture book following a young girl through her imagination to a world where things don't always work out as she expects. She has to think fast, but with a little creative problem solving and a lot of imagination she's able to discover just what she was looking for—a friend. A fresh take on a journey with elements vaguely reminiscent of Where the Wild Things Are and Harold and the Purple Crayon!

Book Lists That Include Journey

The Creative Behind the Book

Aaron Becker learned while living in Granada, Spain, that many of the city’s stone churches had at one point been mosques and, before that, Roman ruins. Which got him thinking: What wisdom can something as still as a rock share with the rest of us? While he could only guess at the answer, he does have some experience with these ancient fragments of earth. After all, the house where he grew up in Baltimore was built from, you guessed it, stone. Aaron Becker lives in western Massachusetts.

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Discover All the Books in the The Journey Trilogy Series

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Book Details

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Journey Paperback – January 1, 2014

Purchase options and add-ons.

• Book 1 of 3 Journey Trilogy
• Print length 40 pages
• Language English
• Dimensions 10.67 x 0.16 x 9.45 inches
• Publisher Walker Books Ltd
• Publication date January 1, 2014
• ISBN-10 1406355348
• ISBN-13 978-1406355345
• See all details

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From the Publisher

Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Walker Books Ltd (January 1, 2014)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 40 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1406355348
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1406355345
• Reading age ‏ : ‎ 3 - 6 years, from customers
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 10.67 x 0.16 x 9.45 inches
• #712 in Children's Travel Books (Books)
• #3,260 in Children's Self-Esteem Books

About the author

Aaron becker.

Born in Baltimore, Aaron Becker moved to California to attend Pomona College where he scored his first illustration job designing t-shirts for his water polo team. Since then, he's traveled to Kenya, Japan, Sweden, and Tahiti backpacking around while looking for good things to eat and feeding his imagination. He now lives with his family in Amherst, MA where he's busy at work on his next book project. You can find out more about what he's been up to lately at storybreathing.com.

Customer reviews

• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 5 star 88% 7% 2% 1% 1% 88%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 4 star 88% 7% 2% 1% 1% 7%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 3 star 88% 7% 2% 1% 1% 2%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 2 star 88% 7% 2% 1% 1% 1%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 1 star 88% 7% 2% 1% 1% 1%

Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.

Customers say

Customers find the book inspirational and great for use in the classroom. They also say it's a wonderful way for a young child to grow their imagination and creativity. Readers describe the storyline as eye-catching, unique, and awesome. They appreciate the beautiful illustrations and the fantastic magical world. Opinions are mixed on the writing style, with some finding it magical and others saying it'll be great without words.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

Customers find the illustrations in the book beautiful, detailed, and magical. They also say the book leaves tons to the imagination.

"What a breath of fresh air. The art is very nice with an emphasis on architecture and larger forms, the story is simple and adventurous with good..." Read more

"...What a loss! The art is so very good , it deserves to be savored in magnification." Read more

"...It is a work of literature, stunning in its artistry, poetic in its imagery , minimalism, and allusions...." Read more

"...Let your imagination take over while reading this book. Beautiful and creative it sparked many kids imaginations after going through." Read more

Customers find the storyline stunning, magical, and satisfying. They also say the book is awesome, accessible, and plain awesome. Readers also mention that the main character is kind, heroic, and a quick thinker.

"...very nice with an emphasis on architecture and larger forms, the story is simple and adventurous with good morals, and the book is a great way to..." Read more

"A wordless book that tells a fantastic and cleverly imaginative story, values like kindness, friendship, and perseverance are here...." Read more

"...It is a work of literature , stunning in its artistry, poetic in its imagery, minimalism, and allusions...." Read more

"...reading wordless books with my children, but this one really just tells the story itself ...." Read more

Customers find the book wonderful for young children to grow their imagination and creativity. They also say it's beautifully illustrated and a welcome break for parents. Customers also mention it'd be a great gift for young girls.

"...is simple and adventurous with good morals, and the book is a great way to have kids to put their own words to a story...." Read more

"...Beautiful and creative it sparked many kids imaginations after going through." Read more

"...fan of wordless books, I feel like it really makes the children use their language and creativity ...plus, the story they create is different each..." Read more

"... Excellent book to share with Early Childhood Children in their understanding that their exciting imaginations can be a reality for them too, as they..." Read more

Customers find the book inspiring, great for teaching multiple lessons, and delivers a sense of wonder. They also say it helps students with vocabulary development, building language, and reinforcing the use of pictures to tell the story. Customers also say the story is simple, adventurous, and has good morals.

"...on architecture and larger forms, the story is simple and adventurous with good morals , and the book is a great way to have kids to put their own..." Read more

"...imaginative story, values like kindness, friendship, and perseverance are here . On my Kindle, however, I couldn't get the images to zoom!..." Read more

"...The main character and heroine of the book exhibits courage , kindness, and imagination throughout the scenes in this story...." Read more

" Nice book works great for makerspace " Read more

Customers find the book very fun.

"... It’s fun !" Read more

"...It is marvelous and magical. It is enchanting and engaging . It is accessible and just plain awesome. This was Aaron Becker's first book...." Read more

"...We love the adventure and the imagination it creates . This book is a must have for every library. It is timeless as well ageless." Read more

"...The pictures are breathtaking, the story is really fun - filled with magic,adventure, friendship, good guys and bad guys...." Read more

Customers are mixed about the writing style. Some mention the book is magical in that it has no words, and is perfect for struggling readers who hate reading.

"...I love the fact that it has no words , as it allows my toddler and I to explore the images and story unfolding, in an interactive, didactic manner...." Read more

"...Not everyone is going to like the art, or the price, or the lack of words , but the story and morals are just fine for young children." Read more

"...I liked the fact that there was no words so it was an enthusiastic challenge for me to find the right dialogue that matches with each page...." Read more

"...I say "read" but the book is actually wordless . My grandson picks out details about the story and stays very involved in it to the end...." Read more

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TEACHING RESOURCES

Journey by aaron becker 7 - 9.

A beautiful wordless picture filled with adventure and wonder.  Our protagonist feels alone in the grey city that surrounds her and traps her.  She wishes to travel and to see the world and for this to happen she will have to do it for herself.  With just a swipe of chalk and a lot of imagination she travels to far away lands filled with wonder and mystery; beauty and danger.

Writing Outcomes

• Setting description
• narrative sequel

Topic Links

• Quest by Aaron Becker
• Return by Aaron Becker
• Little Boat on Literacy Shed
• Loteria De Navidad Literacy Shed

Buy This Book

Lesson Planning

Teacher resources.

Writing Root Back to List

Resource written by

Pippa mcgeoch.

Senior Consultant

Resource Preview

A writing root for journey.

KS: Lower KS2, R & KS1, Upper KS2

Year Group: Reception, Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, Year 4, Year 5, Year 6

Literary Theme: Coming together & community

Author(s): Aaron Becker

"The most fantastic way to launch the year: our whole primary school is excited to write."

Anna Chidzey, whole school, British International School Riyadh

• Description

Main Outcome(s):

Predictions, retellings in role, maps, posters, a travel diary, instructions and a story sequel.

10+ sessions, 2+ weeks

Overview and Outcomes:

This is a two-week Whole School Writing Root for Journey by Aaron Becker. The resource has been designed to be used by an entire school to foster a shared learning experience around one text and to engender written outcomes – some with the same audiences and purposes, some not – that are ‘at pitch’ for each phase/stage but that will also aid revision, catch-up and extension where (and in whichever form) needed. We have planned for activities at 3 stages: Reception with Year 1; Year 2 with Year 3 and then Year 4 to Year 6. The resource is intended to form the basis upon which schools and teachers can create and shape a sequence of learning that will work within their context.  The sessions could be added to with art activities and through further learning in PSHE, Science, Geography and History.

Synopsis of Text:

The winner of the prestigious Caldecott Honor, and described by the New York Times as 'a masterwork', Aaron Becker's stunning, wordless picture book debut about self-determination and unexpected friendship follows a little girl who draws a magic door on her bedroom wall. Through it she escapes into a world where wonder, adventure and danger abound. Red marker pen in hand, she creates a boat, a balloon and a flying carpet which carry her on a spectacular journey ... who knows where? When she is captured by a sinister emperor, only an act of tremendous courage and kindness can set her free. Can it also guide her home and to happiness? In this exquisitely illustrated book, an ordinary child is launched on an extraordinary, magical journey towards her greatest and most rewarding adventure of all...

Wordless, fantasy worlds, loneliness, companionship

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