Title: The Journey
Author and Illustrator: Francesca Sanna
Publisher: Flying Eye Books, 2016
Ages: 6-12
Themes: immigration, journeys, fear of unknown, new homes, hope, refugees
Opening:
I lived with my family in a city close to the sea. Every summer we used to spend many weekends at the beach. But we never go anymore, because last year, our lives changed forever…
Synopsis:
With haunting echoes of the current refugee crisis this beautifully illustrated book explores the unimaginable decisions made as a family leave their home and everything they know to escape the turmoil and tragedy brought by war.
Why I like this book:
This book will haunt you, and I wish it weren’t so, but if anything it is even more relevant now than when it was written two years ago due to the ongoing desperate refugee situation in our world and the current political conditions in the USA.
I challenge you to read this without tearing up at the constant grief and the terror for this unknown mother and her children. This story is a story for adults and children alike – a combination of several refugee stories that will change the way you look at things and how much we can take for granted in the west. The at times fantasy touches are, I think, a superb choice as Sanna doesn’t shy away from the horrors this family faces and yet her art style and poetic text hit the right tone for sharing this material with a young audience.
Sanna’s art is breathtaking and full of emotional imagery and a great use of dark and shape to represent the flux and fear of this journey. War is portrayed as a dark character. The guards at the border are portrayed as big giants. I am so happy to encounter this author/illustrator’s very unusual work, and hope to interview her, as I like her European sensibility. I would definitely add this to the classroom shelf on refugees.
© Francesca Sanna – see francescasanna.com
Resources/Activities:
From the author: The Journey is actually a story about many journeys, and it began with the story of two girls I met in a refugee center in Italy. After meeting them I realized that behind their journey lay something very powerful. So I began collecting more stories of migration and interviewing many people from many different countries. A few months later, in September 2014, when I started studying a Master of Arts in Illustration at the Academy of Lucerne, I knew I wanted to create a book about these true stories. Almost every day on the news we hear the terms “migrants” and “refugees” but we rarely ever speak to or hear the personal journeys that they have had to take. This book is a collage of all those personal stories and the incredible strength of the people within them.
This is a great springboard for class discussions on all sorts of journeys including, moving and immigration.
Amnesty International has put together a great teaching document about using this book to look at human rights with children.
Each week a group of bloggers reviews picture books we feel would make great educational reads. To help teachers, caregivers and parents, we have included resources and/or activities with each of our reviews. A complete list of the thousands of books we have reviewed can be found sorted alphabetically and by topics, here on Susanna Leonard Hill’s website.
Title: The Diamond and the Boy – The Creation of Diamonds & The Life of H. Tracy Hall
In my 20's, with only my guitar and a rucksack, I wandered the continents, immersing myself in the lives of some wonderful people, projects and stories, which changed the way I view my responsibility to others and this earth. Right now I'm a European transplant in the US who writes books for children and young adults. Stories can help us not only navigate our world but can connect us to others, and allow us to inspire and help each other. I believe that equity and empathy should be at the core of our all actions, words, and stories.
I am also a school librarian and I get a kick out of book-matchmaking! And I use the pronouns she/her.
