Perfect Pairing – Travels Wordlessly through the World

As the biggest holiday in the United States looms and as many of you dear readers may be jostling through airports, cramming into trains or sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic, take a deep breath and imagine journeys that are much more pleasant, like the ones paired today. Happy Thanksgiving! 

Chalk Eagle

Author & Illustrator: Nazli Tahvili

Publisher/Date: Tiny Owl Publishing/2018

Ages: 4-8

Themes: imagination; flight; adventure; wordless

Short Synopsis (from Goodreads):

A young boy living in the heart of a busy city spots an eagle swooping overhead. He dreams of what it would be like to fly away from the noise and soar over mountains and rivers. Climbing onto the roof, he uses chalk to draw his own eagle – and then himself – into existence. The two fly away together and embark on a wonderful adventure of the boy’s imagination.

Read my review.

Door

Author & Illustrator: JiHyeon Lee

Publisher/Date: Chronicle Books/2018 (originally published in South Korea, Iyagikot Publishing Co/2017)

Ages: 3-5

Themes: imagination; friendship; adventure; wordless

Short Synopsis (from Goodreads):

What’s on the other side of the door? There’s only one way to find out: You’ll have to go through it.

JiHyeon Lee’s debut book, Pool, was lauded as a wordless masterpiece. Here she takes readers on another journey into an unexpected world. Delicate drawings transform from grays to vivid color as a curious child goes through a mysterious door and discovers that open-mindedness is the key to adventure and friendship.

Read a review at Brainpickings.

I paired these books because they are wordless picture books involving imaginative journeys. In Chalk Eagle, a young boy views an eagle and draws an eagle and himself with chalk to experience the joys of flying over serene, forested mountains. With a palate of blues and greens, Tahvili evokes vast mountains and sky, leaving many details to the readers’ imaginations. In Door, a young boy finds a key to a locked garden, enters, and discovers a colorful, exuberant world filled with welcoming creatures on the other side. Leaving the black and white reality of frowning adults, the boy enters the colorful, detail-filled garden to frolic with a cast of merry characters. While both main characters undertake imaginative journeys, the look and feel of these journeys differ, perhaps because Tahvili and Lee hail from different parts of the world: Iran and South Korea.

Looking for similar reads?

See Circle, Jeannie Baker (2016) or the Journey series by Aaron Becker.