gracegreenlaw's review against another edition
4.0
Anno and his horse journey through busy farms, sleepy villages and bustling cities. Although there are no words each page is full of activity and this would be a great book for sparking children’s imagination and helping them to create stories and dialogue.
mat_tobin's review against another edition
4.0
The first in the series of Anno's journeys sees the little character of Anno take his horse across Europe. As with [b:Anno's U.S.A.|596698|Anno's U.S.A.|Mitsumasa Anno|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1176141703s/596698.jpg|1062761], Anno himself spent time travelling across the continent to study and explore the landscape and its people. The cultural references throughout not only give a nod to housing and the use of the land but to art and literature too. Don Quixote sits alongside The Enormous Turnip which the rich, double-page spreads pay homage to Millet, Renoir and Seurat amongst others. I really like Anno's statement on exploration at the back of the book and it is a phrase worth sharing with the child reader:
'By the end of my journey, I realised 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.'
'By the end of my journey, I realised 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.'
votrikhon's review against another edition
some recommend to look in the book at the end of the book.
kwbat12's review against another edition
4.0
Really pretty wordless book. European, old world context. The pictures are really nice.
kstehel's review against another edition
5.0
This is likely my favorite book that reads without text. It is much shorter than Shaun Tan's "The Arrival," and it is rendered in watercolor. From what appears to be intricate pen work over layers of watercolor, meticulous mark-making strokes blanket the entire book leaving very minimal white space. The imagery covers various landscape settings from Europe. Simple gestures suggest activities taking place all over the composition of each page. In a sense, this is similar to "Where's Waldo" because the elements are so tiny and there are multitudes of them. It is up to the reader to search for the intended actions that are taking place. I recommend this beautiful book to everyone.
snowelf's review against another edition
4.0
As is the case with so many wordless books, this one calls for repeated "readings". I liked to study the details, try to imagine through where the rider was traveling. In particular I liked how some things repeated themselves through the book but in different form/shape: landscapes, groups of people, children. My 4 1/2 year old was pretty drawn into this book as well. We might seek out [a:Anno's|72077|Mitsumasa Anno|/assets/nophoto/nophoto-M-50x66-e07624dc012f2cce49c7d9aa6500c6c0.jpg] other "travel" books: [b:Spain|1076039|Anno's Spain|Mitsumasa Anno|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1309287701s/1076039.jpg|1062751], [b:Britain|596705|Anno's Britain|Mitsumasa Anno|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1333342054s/596705.jpg|1062753], [b:U.S.A|596698|Anno's U.S.A.|Mitsumasa Anno|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1176141703s/596698.jpg|1062761], [b:Italy|1401082|Anno's Italy|Mitsumasa Anno|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1312374264s/1401082.jpg|1391275] ...
lupines's review against another edition
3.0
Good illustration delivered a story even without words. In this wordless book, Anno took me along on his journey.
nejohnson's review against another edition
4.0
Pretty pictures with lots of easter egg references to fairy tales, impressionist paintings, Beethoven, and all of European culture in general.