A grieving child embarks on an action-packed adventure in the enigmatic, palindromic picture book Drawn Onward, written by Printz Award-winner Daniel Nayeri (Everything Sad Is Untrue). The lush, intricately detailed illustrations by Matt Rockefeller (Poesy the Monster Slayer illustrator) use visual pacing and a videogame-like structure to invite close inspection and expand Nayeri's narrative in multilayered ways.
The story opens with the child and a bearded, bespectacled adult sitting in sorrow beneath a painting of a happy family: "She was gone," the text reads. In tears, the child escapes to the forest and pulls a sword from the ground. The fearful but determined child faces great dangers in the mostly wordless adventure that follows. Midway through the story, the bereaved child asks a statuesque stand-in for his now-dead mother a yearning question ("Mom were you glad you were Mom?")--and receives a reassuring response. As the child returns home, Nayeri's spare text repeats itself (with slight changes), bringing new meaning to the words and beautiful new adventures for the child who no longer believes "she was gone."
Rockefeller balances his palette between sun-dappled earth tones and jewel colors, incorporating glowing gems and iridescent flying creatures as integral elements of the story. The journey takes place in one day, Rockefeller launching it with an image of the family cottage on a sunlit morning and closing the story with the cottage at night, a crescent moon shining brightly. The reunion of the child with both the deceased mother and the parent waiting at home offers comfort, likely leaving readers eager to return to the beginning to revisit the story's many subtextual and emotional layers. --Julie Danielson