The Arrival

The Arrival, by Shaun Tan, is also in the Top Ten on the 2008 Best Books for Young Adults list. This is an imaginative story told through pictures of an immigrant’s journey to a new land. He leaves his family and travels alone by boat, like many immigrants have, and arrives in a new land where everything is unfamiliar. The author used an invented alphabet to represent the way immigrants must feel when they encounter a new language and way of life. He used a combination of realistic and imaginary images to represent the man’s journey and his struggles, as well as political ideas and emotional elements. Folded paper birds and strange animals were common throughout the book. At the end, the immigrant’s family was able to join him in this new world. The story is told, without words, using drawings of varying sizes - sometimes twelve panels to a page, sometimes four, and sometimes one full-page drawing. The drawings are beautiful and the faces are almost photographically realistic. This book is a tribute to the bravery of all immigrants.