Journey

At the Harvard Bookstore yesterday I was drawn to a book called ‘Journey’ by Aaron Becker. As I flipped through the pages of the beautifully illustrated wordless children’s picture book, it reminded me of some of Chris Van Allsburg and David McCauley’s work, combining the intricate details of their style with a very simple design. It was an intriguing concept that would draw children in. I googled Aaron’s name, read through his site, watched his videos and checked his calendar. Fortunately his next ‘local’ book signing was today in Wellesley. We drove down there and I bought two books; One for a retired librarian who loves children’s books as much as me and one for my son, well… for me actually, but I will add it to his collection of autographed books of my favorite authors. Aaron was friendly, unassuming and perhaps a bit surprised at how successful his first attempt at writing children’s books actually is. I reassured him that I think that he is well on his way to a successful career. Children need space to imagine and his beautiful illustration provides that space.

Julie Danielson author of Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast captured Aaron Becker’s work beautifully in her blog post. I recommend this post to anyone interested in learning more about his work.

I’m going to share his book with my students tomorrow. I am very curious to hear how each of them writes his story. Thanks for the inspiration Aaron Becker.