posted on 11 Jun 2024

The Last Zookeeper by Aaron Becker

I think many readers, especially adults, are puzzled by the concept of a wordless book – a book where a combination of pictures and the imagination of the reader together construct the details of a story. It’s true that the illustrator leads the narrative by suggesting through the pictures that there is a story to be found but wordless books are the very embodiment of the notion of a co-construction – a dynamic partnership between the reader and the illustrator.

In such circumstances it’s entirely possible to have a story without words that is read in many different ways, contains an almost infinitely changing set of details, follows slightly different pathways and has multiple possible conclusions. And, the next time you pick it up, it will follow a slightly different path and come to slightly different conclusions.

For my money, that makes the job of the wordless book illustrator a subtle and complex artform and, in modern children’s books, no-one has mastered this skill more finely than Aaron Becker – the U.S. artist, Caldecott Honor winner and author of the magnificent ‘Journey’ trilogy.

Becker’s new wordless book, The Last Zookeeper, imagines a future in which the Earth has been flooded and where a large, yellow robot with the name NOA painted on its arms, is living an existence of some kind in this drowned world. When the robot comes across the remnants of a zoo which is still home to rare and endangered species, it feels impelled to do something to save them. It would seem that NOA is a construction robot and so has the skills to build an ark from the various wreckage it scavenges and, in its role as the zoo’s new caretaker, sets off to seek land – and a new life.

Across perilous seas they go until they finally run aground on a string of small islands. But there’s a surprise in store for NOA when an air balloon comes into view.

I’m not going to tell you any more about the story I’ve interpreted because you will want to make that journey for yourselves. Suffice it to say that the key message lies in the only words in the book which appear at the very beginning before our story starts: it’s a quotation from the great anthropologist, Jane Goodall:

“Only if we understand, can we care.

Only if we care, can we help.

Only if we help, shall we be saved.”

Becker is such a brilliant artist and the book is a fabulous visual feast which is enough in its own right to make it a must have. But in the illustrations lie a treasure trove of stories for you to uncover for yourselves and that makes it a book that will last a lifetime.

Available from Walker Books, you will be able to get a copy from your local independent bookshop – who will, of course, be happy to order you a copy if they don’t have it on their shelves.

 

Terry Potter

June 2024