The predicaments facing migrants and refugees

The Arrival by Shaun Tan (Melbourne: Lothian, 2006.)


Winner: NSW Premier's Literary Awards: Book of the Year, 2007; Winner, Scholastic Australia Best Designed Children's Picture Book, APA Book Design Award, 2007; Silver Award Spectrum Art Award, 2007; Australian Book of the Year for Older Children 2007 (Australian Book Industry Awards); Children's Book Council of Australia Picture Book of the Year 2007; Winner Premier's Prize 2006, and WA Premier's Book Awards, 2006 [Children's Books]; Winner Golden Aurealis and Young Adult Short Story, Aurealis Awards, 2006.

A graphic novel/picture book where the issue of dislocation is explored, what it means to be uprooted from familiar surroundings and come to a distant land as millions have done in the past century. Readers journey with a nameless man who leaves his homeland and family to forge a future in a bewildering unfamiliar landscape full of indecipherable signs and strange creatures. The historical imagery and science fiction elements add to the effect and will fascinate young readers.  Older readers will be affected by the man's experiences and will appreciate the difficulties of starting over, whether it be in another country, city or community.  The importance of belonging to a community where all human rights are rightly respected is a feature, while also alerting us to the dilemmas faced by immigrants and refugees.

Cities and Urbanisation

Mirror by Jeannie Baker (London: Walker Books, 2010.)


Winner: Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Awards: Picture Book of the Year 2011

Another beautiful Jeannie Baker's wordless picture book, this one chronicling the difference between two boys lives, one living in a built up western city and another in a village environment in Morocco.  Readers can see the urbanisation and lifestyle of the big city and contrast with the relative safe and simple living of an eastern village.  Whilst differences are pronounced the book also shows us that we are all connected with and part of a community and that family, shelter, food and transport are important to us all.

Published as a picture book for young readers, this book has appeal for all ages and will certainly resonate with young teens.


Also by Jeannie Baker: Belonging, a wordless picture book depicting the changes in an urban landscape through an upper storey window and Window, where a natural green landscape is overtaken by urban sprawl.  Both books show the relationship between our environment and urbanisation. 
Visit Jeannie Baker's website to read more about her picture books.