Picture books without words are becoming really popular. If you are curious about this trend, the work of Aaron Becker is an excellent place to start. Journey is the first installment about a lonely girl with no friends. A magical red crayon appears in her room, and with it, she draws a door that leads her to a fascinating and fantastical world. She finds friendship in a beautiful purple bird. At first the world is friendly, but things take a sinister turn when evil men catch the bird and lock it up. The girl frees the bird only to be locked in jail herself. The bird helps her escape and leads her to a new friend, a boy with his own magical purple crayon.

In Quest, the story picks up where Journey left off. The girl and the boy are visited by the king of the magical city they visited in the previous book. The city is in trouble, and he gives them a map that locates all of the magical crayons needed to save the king and his people. They go on a quest to save the city.

I know what you are thinking . . . how can you get all of that story from a book without any words?! Reading a wordless picture book is a different experience for sure. It is a malleable experience molded into different stories at different times. Every time we read it, the story might change or grow. We read it differently out loud than we would ponder it quietly by ourselves. The pictures by Aaron Becker give so much. They are amazingly detailed and expressive. I love how each character has a signature color, so that without saying a word, you recognize who they are and what they have built. What other wordless picture books have you read?