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Reviewed by:
  • Quest by Aaron Becker
  • Deborah Stevenson
Becker, Aaron Quest; illus. by Aaron Becker. Candlewick, 2014 [40p] (The Journey Trilogy) ISBN 978-0-7636-6595-1 $15.99 Reviewed from galleys     R 5-9 yrs

In this second volume in the planned trilogy beginning with Journey (BCCB 10/13), the boy and girl who met in that first wordless picture book are now off on a fantastical adventure together. It begins when they encounter an imprisoned king, who before he’s snatched back by guards manages to hand them a map and his orange marker, a mate to the magical red and purple markers the kids use to draw things into life. The map sends the pair to the locations of a yellow, green, and blue (well, teal) marker, requiring them to escape the sacked castle, dive undersea, and climb a mountaintop, all while dodging the pursuing soldiers. When all the markers are obtained, the boy’s purple quetzal flies through the sky with them, creating a rainbow that confounds the aggressors and frees the besieged king and subjects. While the magical drawing isn’t be the revelation here that it was in the previous book, the friends’ adventure is definitely fantasy-worthy. The intricate scenery, which includes an elaborately constructed castle, soldiers’ tiny dirigibles, an undersea civilization, and a flimsy and vertiginous rope bridge, provides a highly satisfactory imagined playground. The watercolors have a slightly smoky haze that adds to the epic quality of the landscape, while the inclusion of the map (a cleverly constituted color-coded infographic) allows kids to puzzle out the quest and match map components to the kids’ stops. While Journey makes a better introduction to the magic, the story here is sufficiently free-standing that audiences can enjoy the quest in its own right.

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