DRAWN ONWARD

A grieving young boy goes on an impossible adventure and returns, healed.

Nayeri’s text is minimal, even cryptic: just about 50 words, spooled out over the page turns in brief, elliptical spurts—and then reversed, conveying an entirely different meaning. Little listeners are unlikely to notice the clever construction initially, so beguiled will they be by Rockefeller’s lush, jewel-toned images. They set the scene first in a cozy, medieval-esque cottage beset by grief: A weeping child huddles next to a sorrowful bearded adult; above them hangs a painting of the child as a happy toddler cuddled between the bearded adult, now smiling, and a beaming woman. All are tan-skinned. The text reads, “She was gone.” In extremis, the child flees to the forest and pulls a sword from the ground. From there the adventure emulates a video game’s many levels, including an encounter with fearsome spiders, an underground ride in a rickety cart, a plunge into a sea serpent’s lair, and more. At the end of his quest—the middle of the book—there’s an ethereal woman, an agonized question, and the sublimely reassuring answer. The boy’s journey home traverses the same territory, but with smiling confidence. The illustrations are so filled with detail that they demand repeat visits, which will prompt little ones and their grown-ups to explore both text and subtext further.

Entrancing and complex.