The Power Of Three

For those taking the time to look, patterns of three can be found repeatedly in our collective cultures, its literature and religion.  Every living thing has birth, life and death.  Time is measured in the past, present and future.  Stories have a beginning, middle and an ending.  In nursery rhymes there are three little kittens, three blind mice and three bags of wool.  We have listened to and read the tales and an assortment of variations of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Three Billy Goats Gruff and The Three Little Pigs.  Characters are given three guesses and three wishes.  How often have we heard the third time is the charm?

For readers who have great affection for characters and their story lives, the most wonderful use of the number three is the word trilogy.  To know, in spite of the wait, two more books in a fictional world formed in the mind of an author will follow is sheer bliss.  In 2013 author and illustrator Aaron Becker introduced us to the enchantment found in his wordless 2014 Caldecott Honor book, Journey (Candlewick Press).

The story in book two, Quest (Candlewick Press, August 26, 2014) begins on the title page.  The girl and the boy she met in Journey are continuing to ride a tandem bicycle they drew using her red marker and his purple marker.  Seeking shelter beneath a bridge during a rain shower, they are asked by the King of Pallonezia, who steps through a doorway, to assist in saving him and his kingdom.  Following a map, they travel to particular prominent points in other lands gathering pieces of light which hold a promise.  Their success is a crowning achievement for them and their companion, a purple phoenix.

Readers' patience was rewarded with the release of Return (Candlewick Press, August 2, 2016) conceived and illustrated by Aaron Becker.  This third wordless volume is as fascinating as the previous two.  It is a more intimate and moving conclusion than Journey or Quest; the completion of a circle.

As in the first book, the girl brings her red kite and red ball to her father, who is drawing at his drafting table.  He is too busy to notice her requests.  She goes back to her bedroom drawing a red door and steps back into Pallonezia carrying the ball with her.  Later her father looks down at the floor noticing her dropped red kite.  Going into her bedroom, he sees and walks through the doorway.

In the distance his daughter's red ball is on the dock.  As a strange mechanical dragon floats by him, he steps on board.  It carries him along the waterways to Pallonezia and the platform where his daughter, the King, the boy and the purple phoenix have gathered.  Before any familial issues can be resolved, the evil emperor is revealed.

In the ensuing chaos some are able to escape due to the boy's creativity but it's only temporary before tragedy strikes again.  The inventive, quick-thinking daughter rescues a few. Cave walls tell a tale.  Wickedness arrives intent on capturing all goodness.  A trap is sprung...twice.  An artist and a daughter close a distance and step through a door of possibilities.


Whether you have read the two previous books or not, looking at the open dust jacket you are fully aware the girl carrying a red marker and a red ball has just entered an extraordinary world.  The lights and lanterns are glowing in the evening darkness as fireflies blink off and on.  You may wonder why she is wearing a crown.  You may also wonder why on the back, to the left, a crown has settled on the bottom of a sea with two fish and a seahorse wondering the same thing.  Beneath the jacket on a cloth cover of deep steel blue a kite is embossed.

The opening and closing endpapers are similar to those found in the first volume, a rich red in color with sketches of images.  These illustrations ask us to engage in activities like baseball, fishing, checkers, skating or reading. With a page turn Aaron Becker starts this story on the title page.  There are hints of events to come in this first visual of the daughter in her father's study/studio.

Rendered in watercolor, pen and ink the illustrations continue with a cutaway of the girl's home as she draws the red door to reenter Pallonezia. (I found myself comparing this picture with the cutaway in Journey.)  With a single exception all of the full or double page pictures extend edge to edge.  When Becker places several smaller vignettes on white space it is to show a quick succession of time or intensify a specific moment.  Becker's lush landscapes will have you gasping for breath either in awe of the panorama spread before you or at the tension in a situation right before your eyes.  His intricate fine lines and exquisite attention to detail will have you flipping back and forth through the pages.

One of my favorite illustrations is a close-up picture of the father on his arrival to Pallonezia.  He is standing on the dock along the stream holding his daughter's red ball.  Floating around the corner is the mechanical dragon.  Lanterns are strung from tree to tree.  Fireflies are flying through the forest.  The lights are reflected in the water.  You can feel the balmy air.  You can hear the night noises.  Your senses are shifting into high alert.


Return conceived and illustrated by Aaron Becker is a marvelous, magical adventure exploring the strength which comes from allowing our imaginations to freely explore.  Friendship, loyalty, family and love are woven throughout this final journey, quest and return to home.  It is a wonderfully rewarding read for all ages.

To discover more about Aaron Becker and the two previous titles please visit his website by following the link attached to his name.  To view interior images please follow this link to the publisher's website. The publisher has created an Aaron Becker's The Journey Trilogy Activity Kit.  The book cover premiere for this title is found at All The Wonders hosted by teacher librarian Matthew Winner.  The book trailer premiere is at 100 Scope Notes hosted by teacher librarian Travis Jonker.  Aaron Becker visits All The Wonders Podcast, Episode 277 hosted by Matthew Winner.  Aaron Becker visits KidLit TV in an interview with Rocco Staino on StoryMakers and on Ready Set Draw! Aaron Becker's Watercolor Journey.  Aaron Becker was previously interviewed at Smart Books for Smart Kids, School Library Journal, and KidLit 411.  He is the subject of a post at The Huffington Post.  Enjoy the videos.








To celebrate the release of Return the final volume in Aaron Becker's triology, Candlewick Press is giving away a copy of Journey and Quest.

With A Single Step

Never having been a believer in coincidences when this tweet appeared in my feed I knew there was only one thing to do.

Life gives you the journey, you create the path. #inspiration http://t.co/QDciWIGVwr
— Sue (@SJM_CookiesMom) August 28, 2013

It was time to review a book I read before going to sleep several weeks ago.  When I finished this book, I simply held it in my arms.  I've had a couple books this year I've hugged after reading them; their stories were so endearing but this book I held was different.  It was filled with possibilities.  I did not want any of them to escape.

For my older dog, several times a day her journey is to struggle to her feet, slowly move about the house, walk to the door, around the yard and, on good days, maybe a block down the street.  One evening this week two rabbits were playing a hopping game of tag in my front yard.  Their particular playful journey was spontaneous, the stuff of fairy.  Every night just before it gets too dark to see, a neighbor walks around the subdivision two or three times, trying to rehabilitate a knee after surgery, making a journey toward better health.  A fallen leaf, a stone upon a sandy beach or a penny dropped from a pocket are all on a journey.

Perhaps one of the best journeys of all is the one taking you to a library.  Within those walls are an infinite number of journeys; combinations of books and readers.  To open Journey  (Candlewick Press, August 6, 2013), a wordless picture book, written and illustrated by Aaron Becker is to step on a path of power, the power of imagination.

Unfolding the jacket of Journey we see on our left a rich red flowing to the spine.  The only other color is three decorative, ornate lanterns in shades of blue hanging from the top, three moths flying about those lanterns.  As our eyes drift right, to the front, the same red is used in three elements, contrasting with a castle straight out of a dream.  The black cloth cover is bare except for an embossed hot air balloon carrying a single passenger.

Opening and closing endpapers in a subdued shade of the red are patterned in adventurous modes of travel; hot air balloon, train, motor car, Viking ship, three-masted schooner, air ship, airplane, submarine and maybe even a space vehicle.  They are a blend of history and fantasy.  On the title page our traveler moves down the city street on her bright red scooter beneath tree branches, a blue lantern hanging down, a blend of the here and now with a hint of the magic to come.

We follow her as she sits on the steps of her house, head and hands resting on her knees.  A cutaway of the rooms in her home show her mother cooking in the kitchen, her father at work upstairs in his study in front of a computer and her sister lying on the couch watching a digital device.  Three smaller illustrations picture her asking each to go outside with her riding on the scooter, flying a kite or playing with a ball.

Then alone except for the company of her cat, she sits on the bed in her room.  When the cat leaves she spies a red marker on the floor.  Drawing a door on the wall, she is able to open it and step from a tree trunk into the lush greenness of a forest strung with lights and those same hanging blue lanterns.  Using the stream meandering through as a map, she walks to the end of a dock.

A small rowboat drifts along with the current into a castle with turrets, waterfalls and raised waterways, taking readers along with the girl into the realm of Pallonezia.  A hot air balloon floats among the clouds and airships. A rarity is captured and rescued.  The favor is returned.  Flight on a carpet takes her back through another doorway to the streets of her city. A friend awaits...a friend careful readers will have noticed in the very beginning.


Rendered in watercolor, pen and ink the illustrations of Aaron Becker create a luminous landscape unlike any other.  Sepia tones are used to delineate the girl's world except for the bright splashes of red, in stunning contrast to the world encountered on the other side of the doorway; spectacular in color, detail and viewpoint.  He also chooses to shift from full color edge to edge illustrations to those placed upon a white background to place emphasis on the importance of the circumstances as when the girl draws.

From a bird's eye panoramic view, moving in closer and closer, until a scene unfolds as if we are the girl, these illustrations request us to be part of the storytelling.  Details from the city appear again as fixtures in the other world.  How many can you find?  Each of the illustrations are integral parts of a beautiful whole.  With that being said, my favorite may be when she enters the forest through the red doorway, you know, beyond the shadow of a doubt, something very special is about to begin.


Journey written and illustrated by Aaron Becker is one of those books, where from time to time, you need to stop and remind yourself to breathe.  Like so much in life, even the end hints at the beginning of yet another journey.  I will gladly be placing this title with others on my Mock Caldecott list.

Please follow the link embedded in Aaron Becker's name above to visit his website.  Follow this link to a publisher Q & A with Creator Aaron Becker. Julie Danielson from Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast interviews Aaron Becker at Kirkus about Journey and again at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.  Here is some artwork with a short commentary on Tumblr from Aaron Becker about his process.