"The Arrival" Speaks Volumes Without Saying a Word.

How does one review a book without words?  The answer for me is:  exactly the same way that you would review a book with words. 

As future teachers, we learn so much about the importance of recognizing and celebrating diversity, about incorporating differentiation in our classrooms, about meeting our students where they're at, and about reaching out to them in whatever language connects them to the material we need to teach to them. 

What a joy this novel was to "read" and what an exemplary piece of wordless work that still is able to speak to the  depth of the human need to connect and communicate ideas and stories with one another.  These ideas are at the heart of teaching, and they are at the heart of this book. 

Its vast richness and emotionally captivating illustrations speak volumes to the human experience through the eyes of an "immigrant" coming to a strange new land, supposedly for a better life and better opportunities for himself and his family. 

But that's just my interpretation. 

I am so glad this book was included in our YA Lit list of reading options, because it provides more than just stunning artwork but also a story filled with universal themes that all students can relate too.  Furthermore, it provides an alternative way for students to process information about these themes - if words and reading are a struggle for a student, that does not make them stupid.  It may just not be their strength - or their first language.  Putting a book like this in their hands gives them a voice and gives them the message that what they think and have to say is important, even if it's not expressed in literal words. 

I also feel that a book like this is both timeless and timely, particularly with the current hot political topic of immigration in America.  A student from another country might really take comfort in this book, where their story is being told through a medium that is understandable to all who turn its pages.  I love that the author creates a world that suggests iconic places (i.e. Ellis Island) but nothing is definitively from the "real world" as we know it.  I also love that this creates a world unknown to any human being on this planet, which both levels the playing field and makes the story even more universal.  It causes us all to feel a little displaced and disoriented by the surroundings, thus making us more sympathetic to those people who have actually immigrated or moved to a completely new place and/or culture.

I love that the author illustrates the entire journey for this particular immigrant, who finally navigates his way through the new world and his wife and daughter are finally able to join him.  The best part is that the story doesn't end with the immigrant becoming super rich and successful and forgetting his "roots."  Instead, the final frames show the daughter helping a brand-new arrival to the new world, paying forward the kindness that was shown to her family when they first arrived.  In my eyes, the lesson of kindness is one of the greatest we can impart to our young people, and it is the foundation of a successful society - and a successful classroom.

I would absolutely have this book in my personal classroom library and I could see using it in a unit on "human issues" or using it in a variety of ways as a tool for differentiation for ESL students or other students in need of alternative learning formats.