Aaron Becker (born 1974) is an
American writer
The Lists of American writers include:
United States By ethnicity
*List of African-American writers
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...
and
illustrator
An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicate ...
of
children's books
A child () is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking countries, the legal definition of ''chi ...
. He is best known for his wordless children's book ''
Journey'', which received positive reviews in ''The New York Times'' and ''The Wall Street Journal'' and a
Caldecott Honor
The Randolph Caldecott Medal, frequently shortened to just the Caldecott, annually recognizes the preceding year's "most distinguished American picture book for children". It is awarded to the illustrator by the Association for Library Service ...
in 2014.
Writing career
''Quest'', the second book in Becker's Journey trilogy, was among a small group of children's books praised by
National Public Radio
National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...
(NPR) in anticipation of the announcement of the 2015 Caldecott Award nominees. Sam Juliano, in his popular ''Wonders in the Dark'' blog, also remarked on ''Quests likelihood of Caldecott attention.
The final book of the trilogy, ''Return'', was released in August 2016. Among the many publications reviewing the book were the ''Financial Times'' on 19 August 2016 and the ''New York Times'' on 26 August 2016.
Becker published "A Stone for Sascha" in May 2018. The book was reviewed by the ''New York Times Book Review'', ''Kirkus Reviews'', ''Publishers Weekly'', ''The Boston Globe'', et al.
In April 2024 "The Last Zookeeper" was published. Becker launched the book online with Just Imagine and talked through the long process of its creation.
Prior to his children's book work, Becker illustrated scenes in children's
animated films
Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby still images are manipulated to create moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Animati ...
, including ''
The Polar Express
''The Polar Express'' is a 1985 fantasy children's picture book written and illustrated by American author Chris Van Allsburg. The book is now widely considered to be a classic Christmas story for young children. It was praised for its detaile ...
'' (2004), ''
Cars
A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people rather than cargo. There are around one billio ...
'' (2006), ''
Monster House'' (2006), ''
Beowulf
''Beowulf'' (; ) is an Old English poetry, Old English poem, an Epic poetry, epic in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 Alliterative verse, alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and List of translat ...
'', and ''
A Christmas Carol
''A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas'', commonly known as ''A Christmas Carol'', is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. It recounts the ...
''.
His 2023 book, ''The Tree and the River'', won the
Carnegie Medal for Illustration in 2024.
Biography
Becker was born and raised in
Baltimore, Maryland
Baltimore is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the List of United States ...
. He attended Baltimore City College High School. He graduated from
Pomona College
Pomona College ( ) is a private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalism in the United States, Congregationalists ...
in 1996, and currently lives and works in
Amherst, Massachusetts
Amherst () is a city in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Connecticut River valley. Amherst has a council–manager form of government, and is considered a city under Massachusetts state law. Amherst is one of several Massach ...
.
Published works
* ''Journey'' Trilogy (Candlewick Press)
** Book 1: ''
Journey'' (August 2013)
** Book 2: ''Quest'' (August 2014)
** Book 3: ''Return'' (August 2016)
* ''A Stone for Sascha'' (May 2018)
* ''You Are Light'' (March 2019)
* ''My Favorite Color'' (September 2020)
* ''One Sky'' (September 2022)
* ''The Tree and the River'' (April 2023)
* ''The Last Zookeeper'' (March 2024)
See also
References
External links
Storybreathing - Aaron Becker's official siteSlideshow of Polar Express artworkAnimatic developed for title sequence of Polar ExpressOfficial release trailer for ''Journey''The Making of JourneyOfficial release trailer for ''Quest''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Becker, Aaron
1974 births
American children's book illustrators
American children's writers
Artists from Baltimore
Artists from Massachusetts
Caldecott Honor winners
Living people
Pomona College alumni
Writers from Amherst, Massachusetts
Writers from Baltimore
Writers who illustrated their own writing
Kate Greenaway Medal winners