Journey is beautifully illustrated wordless book and uses color very effectively to tell a story of a good deed and its reward.

As I paged through the book for my classes, I could hear my students whispering the story to themselves.  Their spontaneous applause when I finished the book matched my feelings exactly.  I love this book so much that I’ve shown it to countless adults since first reading it.

A lonely girl takes her red crayon and draws a door in her bedroom wall.  The door leads her into a beautiful forest filled with lanterns and lights.  There she finds a small stream.  She draws herself a boat and follows the stream to a beautiful city.  The city could be from medieval times with its stone walls and golden domes.  She floats through a city canal.  When she comes to the end of the canal, the girl draws herself a hot air balloon.  She flies away and sees a purple bird flying away from city soldiers.  When the soldiers catch the bird and place it in a cage, the girl steals the bird’s cage and frees the bird.  Caught by the soldiers herself, the girl is suspended in her own cage.  The grateful bird brings her a crayon so that she can draw herself a magic carpet.  The girl follows the bird until she finds a door.  When she opens the door…well, you’ll have to read Journey and find out what happens.

This is a book you won’t want to miss and that you and the children you read to are bound to read over and over again.