Journey

Journey is a stunningly illustrated wordless picture book about a young girl who uses her imagination and creativity to go on an adventurous journey of a lifetime. Author and illustrator Aaron Becker creates a dream world of magical places, creatures and people that was constructed from inside the mind of an ordinary child who needed an escape from her lonely life. This book begins in a greyish world, one where the girl can't find friends or family to talk or play with her. Then she uses a magical marker to draw a door on her bedroom wall that opens to a new colorful world, filled with flying carpets, mystical ships and even a new friend. This book also reminded me of the anime movie Castle in the Sky by Hayao Miyazaki.

I enjoyed reading Journey because it is so relatable for many of us, especially children. Some children grow up in situations where they don't have many friends, available parents or toys to play with. Everyone has felt alone at some point in their life and has wished to escape to a fantasy world, and this book captures this feeling perfectly. It shows readers that your imagination is a gateway to going to new places and seeing new things, even if you can't physically do them. I would use this book in a classroom as an introduction to creative writing. First the students would read the story once over, looking at the images, places and colors. Then a discussion about the book could follow, where the students can speak about what the book meant to them and how the places were influenced by places around the world. Finally, the students could write their own short story piece about an imaginative journey and illustrate a piece of their story as well.

Becker, A. (2013). Journey. Somerville, Massachusetts: Candlewick Press.