Journey (public library), the debut children’s book by illustrator Aaron Becker, is a charming and empowering wordless story about a lonely little girl who finds herself in an imaginary world and learns to bend it to her own imagination by drawing with a magical red marker. Partway between Alice in Wonderland and Little Boy Brown, between contemporary Disney movies and the ancient Arabian Nights, Becker’s breathtaking watercolors tickle those most timid parts of even our grown-up selves, the parts that still believe in magic, cherish wonderment, and long for the spirit of adventure.

In this wonderful short film, Becker cracks open his creative process and invites us in for a peek:

There’s a delicate balance between controlling what you’re doing and … letting it go.

Journey is absolutely wonderful and bewitching in its entirety.

Images copyright © 2013 by Aaron Becker. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Candlewick Press, Somerville, MA.