Journey

Journey

By Aaron Becker

Candlewick Press 2013

Journey tells the story of a little girl who imagines everything that happens to her. It is a wordless picture book of a girl who draws her own story. She uses a red crayon to tell her tale, much like Harold And The Purple Crayon, which students might be able to make the connection to (having read both).

I really enjoyed the illustrations of this book, but also really enjoyed the story. I think by making it a wordless picture book, rather than having dialogue and words throughout, the reader is about to make up their own “journey” for the young girl.  This fantasy allows children to come up with their own ideas as to why she has drawn herself into this place and what they think she will do to get herself out of trouble. 

This book uses the typical fantasy structure by creating imaginary place, giving the young girl the power to control her path, and good versus evil. At the end, the little girl begins to see someone else drawing his way into her imaginary world, only to meet a friend who is doing the same thing. Then, they ride off to their next adventure. I thought it was a really nice ending to a great book.