The Story

In this captive wordless story called Journey by Aaron Becker the reader is taken on a magical ride through beautiful watercolor illustrations. This story begins as a young lonely girl is seeking some new adventure, she decides to use a red crayon to draw a magical opening (door) on her bedroom wall. This opens a new exciting and enchanted world beyond the one she currently lives. In this story all readers are asked to use their imagination to follow the lonely girl through her adventures, through the trials and tribulations and her way back home. Visual literacy is very important as Beckers asks the readers to interpret and understand the story's underlying meaning through communication in illustrations

 

As I read this story I was very intrigued with the images and the situations it was portraying of the girl enduring on her adventure. However as I was going through the images I caught myself wondering what was happening, how was the girl feeling?, was this an important part of the story or just another image? I found myself longing to make a connection to the story that I just could not do without words to guide me along.

But what is a story without words?

Although this a beautiful imaginative story what does it lose with supply no words to the adventures this lonely girl endures. Barbara Bader hits the nail on the head when she argues that as illustrations gain prominence, the literary quality and depth of the accompanying text often diminish. What is a children's book without the words that spring to mind when we think of a certain story from long ago? How are we able to truly connect to the characters of a story and relate to their feelings if they are never stated? How is a story to be truly impactful without thoughtful and resilient word choice?

 

While illustrations have become the highlight of many children's books there is nothing that can replace the connection between  words and text, which makes a book truly engaging and impactful. Wordless books like Journey rely on the imaginations of readers, but for most children's books, words are irreplaceable tools for children's understanding and growth in their reading journey. 

 

So what do you think?

Should text always be used in a children's book, or should we branch out from this idea?

 

Works Cited

 

Bader, Barbara. “The Difference Words Make.”Horn Book Magazine, Nov./Dec. 2004, pp. 633-44.https://www.proquest.com/trade-journals/difference-words-make/docview/199329238/se-2?accountid=10639.

Becker, Aaron. Journey. First edition. Somerville, Massachusetts, Candlewick Press, 2013.