Anno's Journey

Celebrated Japanese picture-book author and artist Mitsumasa Anno, winner of the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 1984, began his series of wordless travelogues with this 1977 book - subsequent titles include Anno's Italy, Anno's Britain, and Anno's USA - which follows the horseback figure of the author, as he travels through northern Europe. From rural fields to crowded towns, country fairs to school races, Anno wends his way through the European landscape, taking the reader on a visual journey that weaves in classic works of art and storytelling, little visual jokes, and a running romantic theme.

I can't say, in all honesty, that I caught everything there was to catch with Anno's Journey, although I did enjoy searching for the author show more on each page, and recognized a clear homage to Seurat's A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, and a reference to the tale of The Pied Piper of Hamlin. I imagine that the more time one spends with the book, the more it will yield. That is high praise indeed, making this a book that a certain type of young reader - the child who enjoys visual puzzles, or search-and-find books - will delight in poring over! I'm glad The Picture-Book Club to which I belong chose this as one of our January selections. The only other Anno I have read, to date, is the delightful Anno's Aesop, but after enjoying this one, I think I will need to seek out more! show less

Oh, my! What a breathtaking book, wordless and filled with thousand upon thousand of small images in the context of a larger picture. While at times when an artist attempts this, it seems confusing, someone Mitsumassa Anno did a splendid job of it all.

Anno's Journey is a detailed, wordless story of a man who travels through Europe observing different places of the land. The book its self is simple but colorful. The towns people are active in the city and the grass looks oh so green. The train station is busy with people and gives the reader context to the time period this book was written. This is a great example of sequencing different parts of the city in order from the start of the journey to the end.

A wordless book based on the author's travels in Europe. A man on horseback links all the two-page spread pictures. Embedded in the illustrations are references to paintings, stories, a romance told over the course of several pages, and more. All this is discussed in a page at the end of the book.

A quote:
i wandered from town to town, from country to country and sometimes my journey was hard, but it is at just such times that reward comes. When a man loses his way, he often finds himself---or some unlooked-for treasure. by the end of my journey, I realized that I had set out not to collect information but to lose my way---and to discover the world you will find in this book.

This is an really interesting book wich my sister got when the local library was cleaning among their shelves when we were in our early teens.

A book with only pictures yes but as you follow the journey you notice all these funny and strange little details. Like for example on one spread a family is moving and some pages further ahead they have arrived at their new home.

Its magic cant really be fully explained unless youve read it yourself.

Anno, M. (1978). Anno’s journey. Cleveland: Collins-World.
Ages: 4 to 8 years old
Anno takes a trip from the pristine shores of unconquered land through the buzz of big city life arriving at an expansion of green fields warmed by the orange light of sunset. Riding on horseback through Europe, he experiences the changes from untouched nature to urban settings, from the solitude of the trees to clusters of city dwellers. As his journey comes to an end, Anno leaves his horse behind and walks to the edge of a green field to enjoy the setting sun.
Anno’s journey is an exploration of Europe and how the land changes in the hands of men and women. The stunning two-page illustrations show the reader a bird’s eye view of each location, rich in show more details. The reader moves from the quietude of fields and forests to the farms at the edge of the town to the center of the city itself. The prevalent green of uninhabited land gives place to browns, blues, oranges and reds of city living. There is little plot to be discussed; this is a book about settings, a book about human influence and change on its surroundings. Children will spend countless hours accounting for all the little clues left of the page by Anno, a Hans Christian Andersen Medal recipient. show less

This is one of my favorite picture books. The illustrations are beautifully simple and yet somehow inspire the imagination to add in all of the things he has seen and done on his journey. This is an especially great book for young children who cannot yet read.