Review by New York Times Review
"SOMEONE GOES ON A JOURNEY" ÍS One of the guiding precepts of narrative; "Are we there yet?" is one of the guiding precepts of childhood. Picture books must inhabit the middle of this Venn diagram, offering stories as scenic and driving as any novel, at a pace more novel than driving through scenery. Four new package deals have come across my desk; let's see what we can book. Anthony Browne, over the course of a long and impressive career, has embarked on voyages ranging from the Joycean interiors of "Voices in the Park" to his adaptation of "King Kong," which is the sort of book you need to keep in a separate room from the one in which you're sleeping. His new picture book, "What If ... ?," is an anxious effort, too. Young Joe worries on his way to a birthday party, and as he shares his fears with his mother - "It's nice to meet new people"; "Not if they're HORRIBLE!" - they peek through the windows of all the homes on the block, revealing various unnerving tableaus in Browne's trademark sharp detail, some in homage to such party killers as Bruegel and Tenniel. The party turns out O.K., but the touch of shadow one always finds in Browne's work - not to mention the book's discomfiting title - tells us that this is nothing but luck. The endpapers display a vast array of stars - a world of possibility where the chances of a lovely time, particularly in the British suburbs, are no greater than those of being attacked by wild beasts. The young heroes of Aaron Becker's "Quest" don't seem nervous at all - admirable, or perhaps foolhardy, given the scope of their adventure. "Quest" is the sequel to Becker's Caldecott Honor book, "Journey," another wordless picture book with an enormous following. One hates to rain on parades. "Journey" begins with a bored girl drawing a door with a glowing red pen - or perhaps a wand - that then opens and leads her to a world of wonder. By the start of "Quest" she has been joined by a friend with another enchanted, um, crayon. I'm not the first critic to comment on Becker's debt to "Harold and the Purple Crayon," but while Crockett Johnson invested his device with a deadpan anarchy - first Harold draws too many pies, then a moose and porcupine to finish them - the crayons of "Quest" provide quick-fix solutions. Locked doors? The children draw keys. Need to swim? Scuba gear. Similarly, the vast landscapes, though ably detailed in vibrant watercolors, are just what you would think of when you think of things like this. The king has a long white beard, the underwater city looks like every Atlantis; it would be nice if Becker and his heroes were dreaming up something beyond basic genre. There's nothing wrong with a familiar adventure, but here's hoping that the third book in the Journey trilogy - even money it's titled "Voyage" - takes us into more startling territory. The territory is startling from the moment you open "Pomelo's Big Adventure," the fourth book in the Pomelo the Garden Elephant series - the endpapers show a landscape of striped rocks and other not-quite-discernible items from the world of Ramona Badescu (loopy words) and Benjamin Chaud (loopier pictures). Pomelo the elephant decides to set out on an adventure "now that his dandelion is bare." If we understand these books as ways to help children get a grip on the world, this sort of off-kilter beginning has precisely the bewildering texture of real life, in which a picture book reader might find herself strapped into a plastic seat right after breakfast, the better to be punctual for circle time. Philip C. Stead, most famous for writing the deserved classic "A Sick Day for Amos McGee," starts his new book, "Sebastian and the Balloon," in the same slanted way: "Sebastian sat high on his roof - something he was never supposed to do. 'There is nothing to see on my street,' he thought. ... 'Tonight I'll leave and see something new for a change.'" On a roof, near a bare dandelion : We're already someplace interesting before we leave, and both books tug us into dynamic worlds as harum-scarum as they are utterly believable. Pomelo and Sebastian do their packing - the elephant takes, among other things, "his toothbrush, his knife-fork, his pillow, an old photograph, some ribbon, pumpkin seeds, a world map" and other items that we do and do not spot in the brilliantly scattered illustration, while Sebastian gathers "all the things he would ever need," letting us catalog his holdings ourselves. In both books, some of the items come in handy and some never appear again; to summarize either journey is to insult the dashing and daring these wonderful stories accomplish. As with Sendak or Murakami, one has the sense that literally anything can happen, without the work feeling reckless or ungrounded; also like Sendak and Murakami, the two books really have hardly anything in common. "Pomelo's Big Adventure" feels like a story one improvises for a child, adding more details and twists as the mood strikes. "Sebastian and the Balloon," on the other hand, feels like a story one hears from a child, intriguingly full of missing information. Pomelo gets conned by an unnamed animal - Chaud makes him look like a rat - and ends up with a friend; Sebastian gathers friends as he goes, and ends up somewhere the thoughtfully minimal text, and Stead's multitextured illustrations, cannot describe. "They rode... and rode," the book concludes, Sebastian and the others having reached (and repaired) a roller coaster, "until the wind picked up and it was time to go," this last page giving us nothing but a grainy blue sky and a single bird - it's a goose-pimply moment. Pomelo, on the other hand, can be found everywhere - an early spread describes his route as "prickly, uphill, sticky, boring, surprising, lively and ... lost in the distance." But far from lost, there are 11 Pomelos across Chaud's every-which-way depiction, easily one of my favorite illustrations of the year. "Pomelo's Big Adventure" and "Sebastian and the Balloon" show that every step of the way, from packing to snacking, is part and parcel of an exciting journey; like all terrific books, they're reasons enough to travel. DANIEL HANDLER'S latest book as Lemony Snicket, "Shouldn't You Be in School?," has just been published.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [September 28, 2014]
Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Becker continues the loving and gorgeous homage to imagination he began in Journey (2013) with this direct sequel. No sooner has our intrepid female protagonist returned home along with her purple-crayon-wielding friend than adventure taps her on the shoulder again, this time literally. An orange-tinted king, pursued by enemy knights, hands over a precious map that reveals locations for a rainbow of drawing implements that match the power of the girl's own red crayon. The two kids cross over once again, and this time Becker expands his world from the complex castle-city of the previous volume to include vast double-page spreads of underwater ruins, dense jungles, precarious towers, and frosted mountaintops. Always, quick thinking and imagination supersede combat as the kids use both to evade the pursuing army and return rainbow-hued order to the kingdom. In addition to the winning adventure of the silent story, Becker manages to evolve his imagery with more sophisticated designs and ideas that draw readers into the narrative ever more deeply, proving once again that lush details, a meticulous sense of motion and action, and a boundless love of fun are worth all the words in the world. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: New York Times best-selling Becker won wide acclaim for Journey, including a Caldecott Honor. His many fans will be eager for the follow-up.--Karp, Jesse Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In the Caldecott Honor-winning Journey, much of Becker's energy was devoted to the story's exquisite backdrops. Now, in the second wordless book of his planned trilogy, the focus is on his characters. On a rainy day in a city park, the girl who starred in Journey and the boy introduced at the end take refuge by a doorway under a bridge. To their surprise, a king emerges from the door just long enough to pass the two a map before soldiers apprehend him. Returning to the magical Pallonezia, they find the walled city in flames, under siege. Becker includes wonderfully evocative set pieces-a submerged city, a Mayan temple-as the pair follows the map to collect chalk markers in all the colors of the rainbow to free the king and save the city. As before, hearts will beat faster during cliff-hanging moments in which the children must draw their way out of danger. While the artwork is a bit rougher, the strong visual narrative and inventive action sequences offer even more to savor. It's another step forward in an already noteworthy career. Ages 4-8. Agent: Linda Pratt, Wernick & Pratt. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 3-Becker places the boy, girl, and violet bird from Journey (Candlewick, 2013)-the first title of his wordless trilogy-into the gray watercolor and ink landscape of the second. Each child has a magical marker. As they take refuge from the rain under a bridge, the background skyscrapers recede and the fanciful sculptures of a winged gladiator and mermaid foreshadow coming adventures. Upon receiving a color-coded map from a king in custody, the kids sketch keys and enter the familiar realm from the previous title, where golden, Islamic domes mingle with medieval fortresses. This time, however, turrets blaze and enemy soldiers occupy the land. The quest takes the protagonists to an underwater Greco-Roman temple, through Mayan ruins and near a Buddha-like sculpture; four newly mined markers slip into a special belt that, when lifted up by the bird, creates a rainbow whose brilliance temporarily blinds their pursuers until order is restored. The arc also connects the children to their world upon reentry. Becker creates a visual narrative that is clear enough for children to decipher but complex enough to reward multiple readings. Much of the interest comes from his ability to successfully blend architectural styles from a variety of cultures and time periods, the type of exotic settings that children associate with potential danger and requisite cleverness and courage. He clearly understands (and perhaps wants to suggest) that loneliness, boredom, or rainy days can trigger rich, imaginative play. Creative problem solving is at the heart of this genial book.-Wendy Lukehart, District of Columbia Public Library (c) Copyright 2014. 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
Journey (rev. 9/13) introduced a girl with a magic red crayon who could draw her way into an adventure and back home. At the end of the book she met a boy with his own purple crayon. Quest--the second in a planned wordless trilogy--opens where we last saw the friends, in a present-day city. While sheltering under a bridge during the rain, they are surprised by the arrival of an old man who gives them an orange crayon, a colorful map, and a holster with six small chambers. After the man is seized by soldiers, the children follow them into the same land we saw in Journey. Reading their map, the kids go on various quests (each lasting two or three spreads) to collect different-color crayons that fit neatly into the holster. Along the way they use their own purple and red crayons to draw objects that help them escape baddies in steampunk dirigibles. They make their way back to the Journey city and save the old man with their now-full holster, creating a magic rainbow. Becker's illustrations are satisfyingly lush and full of subtle clues that will reward multiple readings. Compared to Journey's simple yet mysterious story line, however, Quest seems overly complicated and, after the first reading, predictable--particularly for those familiar with the Myst computer games. Nevertheless, fans of the first book will probably be happy to explore this fantastical world in more depth. lolly robinson (c) Copyright 2014. 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
On the coattails of Journey (2013), Becker gleefully expands and details his award-winning fantasyland, growing even more ambitious with his storytelling.When readers last saw the boy and girl protagonists, they were sharing a tandem bike; this adventure opens with the children sheltering from raindrops under a bridge, the bike propped up against the wall. Suddenly, a desperate king bursts through a door set into the base of the bridge. He charges the two young heroes with collecting the six magic crayons that will defeat his realm's enemy once and for all. Supplied with a map indicating where the crayons are hidden, the kids find each one (the girl stores them in a crayon bandolier), leading to a showdown with the bad guy that ends with a brilliant, rainbow-hued win for the forces of good. Harold-like, the children use the crayons to draw themselves out of scrapes along the way. Broadening his palette, Becker fills his book with myriad colorful details that will reward sharp-eyed fans. At the same time, his ink and watercolors evoke different kinds of architectural wonders (everything from Atlantis to Chichn Itz). Part Indiana Jones, part Avatar: The Last Airbender, this book proves to be more exciting than its Caldecott Honor predecessor, emphasizing adventure over evocative metaphor.Breathtaking in scope, consider this a wordless testament to the power of not just imagination, but art itself; picture books rarely feel this epic. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
