A Book That Inspires the Se7en Gang: Quest by Aaron Becker…

To celebrate our Annual Build a Library Project, we are having a week of books on our blog. I have a lovely big post packed with books for you to read over the weekend, but some books are so good that they have to stand alone. Last year we reviewed the book Journey by Aaron Becker… Well the journey continues in Quest and we would love to introduce our readers to another magical book by Aaron Becker.

These books are books without words, so anyone of any age can read them… they are a magical journey, a quest of beautiful and inspiring stories that actually want to climb right into. In the first book the children complete their journey, and overtime they need something to help them through their adventure they each have a crayon… and they draw their way out of awkward situations… a hot air balloon, a bicycle, whatever they need really. In this book we begin where the last book ended with the children on the bicycle and they are sent on their quest and all the way collect beautifully coloured crayons…

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The story does carry on from the first book… but works just as well independently. And if you ever imagined a book without words couldn’t possibly tell a fine story, then you need to know that illustrations can tell a beautiful lyrical story too… it is all in the illustrator: Aaron Becker. You can explore his website here.

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As they travel on their quest they collect their bright crayons in a crayon belt slung over their shoulders… and my kids will be making these on their next holiday break – they have to have them. There are quite a few stories that intertwine throughout the illustrations: there is a beautiful bird on the quest with them and a royal wizard who is being chased throughout. The story takes you under the sea, through ancient cities, wild jungles, and across precarious bridges. Of course there is a map… which inspired my guys to create their own…

Making a Quest Worthy Map

We began by blowing some wild islands onto our landscape… just food colouring and straws and go mad…

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Then we filled in all the white areas with interesting features. Things that might thwart you on a quest, wild beasts, like octopus and spiders and viking ships…

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And made some special features to find on our quest…

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And then we were done… some truly adventurous, quest worthy maps… Some folk were going on a circular route, others were more of a zig zag…

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Journey

And a blast from the past… take a peak back in time to the Journey, which inspired us to make flying carpets…

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Some books are meant to be read, and others are meant to be carried about and looked at again and again until you become part of the adventure yourself. These books are the kind of books, that you have to climb into and be part of… we love them.

We were given these books for review purposes by PanMacmillan South Africa. This is not a sponsored post, and opinions are as usual entirely our own.

8 Replies to “A Book That Inspires the Se7en Gang: Quest by Aaron Becker…”

  1. I love these books.
    I also love Wonderstruck and the Invention of Hugo Cabret, both by Brian Selznick. Very clever use of illustration again

  2. Christi, these are beautiful books, the illustrations are so engaging whatever age you are… I think your gang would like to take a look at these… Thanks for stopping by.

  3. Mrs FF, She would, my youngest has been reading and re reading them and only realized yesterday that the books have no words, when I asked him to pass me the picture books without words… he was intrigued that we had read and re-read these stories and he went on a hunt for the words and just couldn’t find them – fun times!!!

  4. Hi Marcia, hope you all had the most amazing weekend. My guys had a lot of fun creating their worlds. Who wouldn’t like painting with straws. Have a fab week!!!

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