The Arrival

The Arrival
by Shaun Tan

Arthur A Levine Books, 2006







Genre:  Picture book, Historical fiction

Honors:  New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards "Book of the Year", Children's Book Council of Australia "Picture Book of the Year", Western Australian Premier's Book Awards Premier's Prize

Review:  An illustrated book in both black and whites and sepia and whites, this story follows the immigration of a European man to America. The author conveys the hardships of the immigrant by depicting this new America through the European's eyes.  The immigrant discovers what it's like to live in the United States, finds a home and work, connects with other immigrants, learns the English language, and eventually realizes his dream of bringing his wife and daughter over to the vast ocean to join him.

Opinion:  This was truly an inspirational and powerful story. I thought it was amazing how the author was able to convey such emotionally charged messages through illustrations without accompanying words. This was an impressive piece that I would certainly recommend.

Ideas:  As this story portrays the time that immigrants came to America through Ellis Island and the difficulties they encountered, this book would be a great addition to an American history lesson of that time period. For further assistance in learning, the author illustrates pictures of seemingly real immigrants in the front and back insets of the book, presenting a realistic concept of the immigrants in that era.