Review by New York Times Review
FOR VERY YOUNG children, even a trip to a grocery store can be thrilling. Cheese samples, the fish department and the dewy surprise of automatic misting in the produce section: Lots of marvels are packed in those prosaic aisles. Some of the most enduring children's books transform something ordinary - a purple crayon, a wardrobe, a red pebble - into vehicles for exhilarating journeys. Three new picture books follow the tradition. In space, at sea, in a twilight world - these books take readers on escapes so transporting it's a pleasure to get lost. Aaron Becker's new book, "Return," bridges the divide between the mundane and the fantastic. "Return" is the final book in his wordless trilogy that began spectacularly with "Journey," which won a Caldecott Honor, and continued with the fast-paced "Quest." Each book follows the creative mind of a bored, imaginative child who uses an enchanted red marker to draw her way out of her room and into a land of evil warriors, a king of color and dazzling architecture. "Return" begins with a double-page view of a house in a delightfully detailed crosssection. Even the slice of the basement that's visible reveals intriguing details. A guitar and a surfboard hint at the lives above. Blanketed by a wash of sepia, the scene features just a few patches of bright color, which illuminate the page like spotlights: A busy dad works at one end of the house while his daughter appears in the opposite corner, drawing an arched portal on her wall, planning her escape. A red kite on the floor prompts the father to look for his daughter. He follows her through the door into the mythic kingdom. The elegance of the idea, which was so startling and liberating in "Journey" - that door could lead anywhere! - dissipates a little in "Return" as plot points pile up. Now the door leads everywhere. There's a sword fight between a king and an evil warrior, a midair disaster and a submarine exploration that leads father and daughter to some cave paintings that tell a largely inscrutable back story. But despite the kinks in the tale, "Return" offers straight shots of pleasure. The rich jewel-tone world Becker has created in pen and ink and watercolor illustrations is richly cinematic. And in a moving turn, father and daughter take some of that warmth and color back home. On the last page their relationship gets a lift as they fly the red kite together. The landscape covered in "The Uncorker of Ocean Bottles" is largely internal, but the book - the story of a lonely man whose unique job ultimately allows him to connect - travels deep. Solitary and unmoored, the title hero of the book collects bottles that bob up in the sea, then delivers the letters inside. "Most of the time," Michelle Cuevas writes, "they made people quite happy, for a letter can hold the treasure of a clam-hugged pearl." Cuevas's prose is laden with gems like that: gorgeous sentences as precious as the messages themselves. Beauty shines through a fog of sadness: Although the unofficial postman loves his job, he longs for a letter of his own. Just when he seems at his lowest a bottle appears bearing no name, but with a mysterious invitation inside. "I am having a party," the note reads. "Tomorrow, evening tide, at the seashore." A beach party? Who wouldn't be intrigued? The Uncorker brightens at the idea, as do all the other townspeople when he shows them the invitation. His search for the true recipient is not successful, but the party it inspires is. At the appointed hour a clutch of towns-people, including the Uncorker, show up at the beach for music, dancing and snacks. And just like that, the bubble of sorrow breaks in a little ecstatic burst. Erin E. Stead's tender illustrations match the spare, moody story. Colors - the tawny body of a cat, the red of the man's Cousteau-esque knit cap - bloom within Stead's whispery pencil drawings. The shaded backgrounds resemble crayon rubbings, the kind kids use to capture on paper the patterns of leaves or coins or headstones. Under the dark surface of "The Uncorker of Ocean Bottles" the outline of friendship appears and a welcoming community rises. In "Armstrong," Torben Kuhlmann takes a groundbreaking journey from history - the first landing on the moon - and shrinks it to pocket size. Dollhouse devotees know how miniatures mess with your perception of the world, adorably. Finely split loaves of bread and tiny tubes of toothpaste are irresistible. Small pleasures fill the pages of Kuhlmann's picture-book-size graphic novel, starting with the hero, a charismatic mouse. He appears on the first spread, tiny eyes peering through a huge telescope. The budding astronomer fills pages with observations about the phases of the moon. During a secret meeting of all the mice in town at a cheese shop, the furry scientist presents his findings. "The moon is a giant ball of stone!" he announces. The other mice are incredulous. They, of course, believe it is made of cheese. Their doubt spurs the hero to action. Inspired by an experienced aviator mouse at the Smithsonian (the protagonist of Kuhlmann's previous book "Lindbergh"), he makes plans to build his own flying machine and launch himself into space to prove his theory. The detailed, warm-tone illustrations, in pencil and watercolor, document the mouse's progress as he repurposes household objects - an alarm clock, tin foil, a glass ink well - to construct a spacesuit and power his flight. Period details evoke the mid-1950s, and a plot twist suggests that the mouse's work paved the way for the human space program. A guide at the back of the book tells the true story of the history of space travel. Maybe it's the meticulous, photorealistic art (or just my scientific naïveté), but the mouse's experiments read not only as charming fun but also as somehow plausible. His greatest failure - a metal roller skate rocket that sparks a devastating fire - may inspire (safer!) home experiments. The successful moon landing and return are triumphant moments, but it's his tinkerings that provide a whole universe of joy. NICOLE LAMY is a columnist and former books editor for The Boston Globe.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [September 14, 2016]
Review by Booklist Review
It's a tribute to Journey (2013) and Quest (2014), the first splendidly imaginative stories in this wordless trilogy, that the final entry disappoints by merely providing a solid retread of the resonant ideas and striking visuals of the first volumes. This time our dauntless heroine is pursued into the magical land by her father, where they contend with a plot to steal the power of the enchanted crayons. Becker keeps his vistas contained, and rather than expansive, the story feels confined, focusing on locations like a cave, which, though meticulously detailed, is inherently less grand than the sprawling castle and frosted mountain tops of previous volumes. The watercolors remain breathtaking, and there are moments of high invention an insidious imagination-stealing device, the appearance of an elegant purple griffin but they lack the breathless wonder of exploration. The ending, in which the father embraces his daughter's sense of adventure, is lovely, but having him save the day robs a cracking good heroine of her thunder. It's a must-read for fans, but they should go in with tempered expectations. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: The first two books in best-selling Becker's picture book series won critical acclaim, and fans will be eager to get their hands on this final installment.--Karp, Jesse Copyright 2016 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In a bravura finish to the trio of wordless tales that began with 2013's Journey, Caldecott Honoree Becker brings still more splendor and feeling to his architectural fantasy world. For the first time, readers meet the father of the girl with the red crayon, an artist who has sunk into his own work. Wielding her crayon, the girl escapes into the now-familiar fantasy kingdom to meet her friends, the boy and the king. Her remorseful father follows, arriving just as an enemy warrior wields a crank-operated vacuum box to suck up the kingdom's magic crayons and their creations. Father and daughter escape to a Lascaux-style cavern whose ancient paintings suggest a way to defeat their enemies, and they do just that. Fantastic contraptions, elaborate landscapes, and breathless escapes would each on their own distinguish this installment; together, they dazzle. That the father is redeemed by entering his daughter's kingdom and mastering its rules gives the story a sense of moral justice. Becker's creation is a gift to his readers-one they'll want to save for their own children. Ages 4-8. Agent: Linda Pratt, Wernick & Pratt. (Aug.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 4-In this satisfying conclusion to the magnificent picture book trilogy, the young heroine once again tries to get her aloof illustrator father's attention and, failing, departs from her mundane sepia-colored world to a fantastical realm via a door she draws with her magic red crayon. This time, her father follows in her footsteps and catches up to her and her friends in the majestic and mysterious city. When crayon-thieving soldiers attack, epic escapades ensue as the duo and their friends flee, then discover a clever solution to defeating their foes that results in father and daughter finally bonding in a touching finale. Like its predecessors, this wordless tale brims with excitement and adventure. Becker's stunning watercolor and pen-and-ink illustrations depict a breathtaking world that captivates without a written narrative-and one that readers will want to come back to again and again. VERDICT Though this title relies somewhat on the audience's knowledge of the previous books, it is an absolute must for any collection and will draw new fans just as it will delight those who enjoyed the previous two installments.-Yelena Alekseyeva-Popova, formerly at Chappaqua Library, NY © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
This third, wordless installment (Journey, rev. 9/13; Quest, rev. 9/14) brings the story full circle, beginning and ending in the same city brownstone shown in the first book. While Return can be enjoyed on its own, fans will find rewarding similarities to, and subtle differences from, the other books. As before, a lonely girl draws a door with a red crayon leading her to a steampunk-meets-fantasy kingdom. This time, though, the girls previously preoccupied father gets up from his drafting table and follows her into the fantasy world to share in the adventure. The boy with a purple crayon and the kind king are back, as are the evil baddie and his soldiers. The latter are in pursuit of the purple bird from the earlier books -- which the girl and her father mightily protect. Becker is at his best creating lush, mysterious landscapes that can be enjoyed for their own sake. Quests complicated plot elements forced readers to solve puzzles rather than enjoy the journey itself; Returns plot is, happily, simpler, but observant readers will still find plenty of questions to ponder. What is the fathers role in this adventure? Why does his home office now contain only books and pictures that relate to the Journey world? What is the significance of the real-world endpapers in Return when compared to the fantastical endpapers in Journey? Do they indicate that the girl has outgrown imaginative play? Even if her character has grown up, readers can return to this world again and again. lolly robinson (c) Copyright 2016. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
This breathless finale to Becker's Journey trilogy (Journey, 2013; Quest, 2014) takes readers back to the intricate interior of an alternate world where crayons wield power.To escape the loneliness of the house, where father furrows his brow over a drafting table upstairs, a white child with a brown pageboy takes up a red crayon and draws a door. Readers familiar with the series know what twinkles on the other sidea purple-plumed bird, trees hung with bobbing lanterns, a Byzantine castle just beyond. New readers will find themselves startled and exhilarated alongside the father when he discovers the improvised door and steps through. Becker's elaborate watercolor-and-pen illustrations capture the scope and mystery of this other place, where, in a few strokes, crayons conjure marvels. Such ambitious, elaborate pictures demand time, and an insistent, pulsing plot battles with their embedded reverie. A wicked, horned warrior invades the castle, seizing the magic crayons from crowned royals (the first child, a second, and a king). The father and child's mutual adventure unspools silently but with urgency. Readers remember the dad's distraction, which started both this book and the trilogy itself. When cave paintings depict the dad as the hero, casting out the villain, hearts swell and eyes well.A fantastic final leg to a reading journey that altered, expanded, and enriched the landscape of children's literatureand surely many young people's lives. (Picture book. 3-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
