Migrants by Issa Watanabe
Gecko Press, 2020. ISBN: 9781776573134.
(Age: All) Highly recommended. With predecessors from Japan,
Switzerland and Spain, Peruvian born Watanabe is well placed to know
what it means to be an immigrant. And living in Mallorca in the
early 2000's, she became accustomed to the sight of refugees coming
across the Mediterranean looking for a better life, while having a
migrant living in her house gave her insight into his journey.
Thus the wordless picture book, Migrants was developed. With
a stream of animals in various guises making for the next page,
readers will follow their journey through the book, along with the
figure of death, always behind them, as they battle uncertainty,
privation, hope and despair.
Many are covered with an array of blankets given them along the way,
some have bags they hang on to, only to be abandoned, some are
accompanied by families, including children, but few are left at the
end of their trials.
The lack of words underlines the fact that these people do not need
words to tell us of their plight, it is obvious and our compassion
should be bubbling over with support.
Readers will empathise with the plight of these migrants, wanting to
leave their forest for whatever reason, coming to another place to
start anew. But the journey is horrific, arduous and taxing, death
is ever present, nibbling at their heals.
The illustrations are stunning, portraying a group of people as
animals, finding their way in the dark, unsignposted, sheltering
where they can in the trees and on the beach. The black colour is
continued throughout the book, giving an ominous, portentous and
foreboding overlay to the outcome of these migrants. Readers cannot
help but reflect on the images they have seen on the nightly news,
seeing parallels in Watanabe's images, so powerfully portrayed.
This is not an easy book to read, throwing up images of people like
you and me finding themselves in situations where they must flee. We
follow their journey with wet eyes.
To find out more about Issa Watanabe and how she came to write this
book, read this interview
with the author. Teacher's
notes are available.
Fran Knight