Four must-read graphic novels on migration
By combining traditional written story-telling with stunning artwork, graphic novels provide an accessible medium to share stories containing difficult subject matter for readers of all ages. These are just a few of my personal favorite graphic novels depicting experiences of migration, ranging from refugees fleeing from a dangerous war in The Best We Could Do to the forced migration of ethnic minorities in They Called Us Enemy.
1. The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui
The Best We Could Do is an illustrated memoir framed around Bui’s own journey to motherhood as she reflects on her complicated relationship with her parent’s and the sacrifices they made throughout her life. The book delves into her family’s journey fleeing Vietnam for the United States amidst the Vietnam War as well as her grandparents and parent’s experience of living under French Colonial rule, the rise of communism, and eventual civil war.
Bui vividly portrays the impact colonization and the Vietnam War had on the everyday living conditions in Vietnam as well as her family’s personal difficulties on their journey to find refuge.
2. The Arrival by Shaun Tan
Despite not containing a single word, The Arrival paints a poignant picture of the impacts of migration. The book opens with the main character tearfully saying goodbye to his wife and daughter as he begins his journey to a new, whimsical city in order to find work. Everywhere he looks there are strange, fantastical creatures he’s never seen before and does not know what to make of, mirroring the real-life experience of countless migrants in unfamiliar places facing scary yet exciting new opportunities.
Appropriate for readers of all ages, The Arrival is a beautiful and thought-provoking story depicting what it’s like to leave behind your home and family and venture into an alien world and the anxieties and struggles that come along with it.
3. Illegal by Eoin Colfer, Andrew Donkin, and Giovanni Rigano
Illegal is a young-adult graphic novel written by Eoin Colfer, author of the massively popular Artemis Fowl series. The book follows Ebo, a young boy in Ghana who makes the difficult decision to attempt the dangerous journey to Europe to reunite with his brother and sister. His travels through the Sahara desert and across the Mediterranean in an ill-equipped dinghy exemplify the plight many migrants go through for the chance of a better life.
4. They Called Us Enemy by George Takei, Justin Eisinger, Steven Scott, and Harmony Becker
They Called Us Enemy is a graphic memoir chronicling actor and activist George Takei’s childhood experience of internment. During World War II, more than 120,000 people of Japanese descent, the majority of whom were United States citizens, were forcibly relocated and incarcerated in concentration camps throughout the United States.
Classed as ‘enemy non-aliens’ simply because of their heritage, four-year-old Takei and his family were uprooted from their life in Southern California and made to live in horse stables in Santa Anita Park and barracks in the Rohwer War Relocation Center in Arkansas.
Detailing his first-hand account of a horrific time in American history, Takei’s memoir reminds us of the immense dangers of racist and xenophobic policy and reinforces the need to fight against them.
