Last year, we gave an S&P Best Spiritual Book Award to Aaron Becker's Journey, a magical tale with no words about a creative little girl who escapes home and embarks on a trip that is filled with strange sights and unfamiliar places. This Caldecott Honor-winning children's picture book impressed us with its thematic riches in the treatment of art, empathy, and heroism.
Quest is the second volume in a proposed trilogy by writer and illustrator Aaron Becker. A king comes out from a hidden door in a city park, surprising two children who have sought shelter from the rain. After giving them a map and some objects, he is taken away by some guards. Just like that, the children are caught up in a quest to rescue the king and his kingdom from darkness, while exploring the farthest reaches of their imagination and discovering their own power. Their quest takes them through a variety of exotic places.
On the book jacket, Aaron Becker writes: "My hope is that these stories might inspire us all to place a bit more faith in the power of wonder." It did for us.
