ABOUT THIS BOOK: JOURNEY
by Aaron Becker
Harold and the Purple Crayon is a classic story about a single character using a single crayon and his imagination to create an adventure. I’m thinking that Mr. Becker must have enjoyed Harold’s story as a child.
He has created a beautiful book ( Winner: 2013 New York Times Best Illustrated and a Junior Library Guild Selection) based on the same premise. However, his single character uses a more up-to-date red marker! Harold and Journey’s nameless heroine travel using boats and balloons. However, the little girl’s journey takes her to beautiful places on her extraordinary adventure through elaborate illustrations.
Crockett Johnson’s Harold drew everything in the illustrations with his magic crayon. Becker’s heroine is greeted with lush ink and water color settings on the other side of her red door. The magnificent castle that Mr. Becker provides in his illustration is inspired by the real French castle Mont St. Michel and David Macauley’s excellent book: Castle.
Journey is a wordless book. The text is provided by both your listener and you. Mr. Becker says that he started as a young child filling blank pieces of paper with pictures of fantastical places. His passion has lead to a magnificent achievement for his first book.
The Practickle format for this selection will not include a Second Reading. After a careful study of the illustrations, your child and you will move to creating the text in Third Reading.
The Reading Comprehension Best Practice for this wordless story is going to be Text Structure. During your Third Reading you’ll be creating text that will accompany the illustrations.
As Eric Steade, a favorite Practickle author (A Sick Day for Amos Magee, Bear Has a Story to Tell), says, “We live in a time with a lot of flash and beep and tweets. Mr. Becker has made a beautiful reminder that there are times we need to turn it off. Some times we need a book, some quiet, and our imagination.”ENJOY!