by Jake Halpern and Michael Sloan (741.5 Hal)
Welcome to the New World is a remarkable book! Based on a Pulitzer Prize award-winning newspaper series, in which Halpern and Sloan used graphic illustration to tell the story of one immigrant family and their experiences in fleeing persecution and civil war in Syria to move to the United States, arriving on the same day Donald Trump (notoriously anti-immigration) is elected President.
This graphic novel manages to distill complex and emotional issues down into something very personal. It allows the reader to empathize with the individual members of Ibrahim Aldabaan’s family, uprooted and trying to find a way to fit into a society and culture that is completely foreign to everything they’ve experienced in their lives. Despite Lincoln, Nebraska’s historic reputation as a portal for refugees and immigrants, and despite working for the libraries, where we offer a welcoming environment for all new residents, my own personal experiences with immigrants are somewhat limited. This book really provided an eye-opening look at what many of them may go through as they try to assimilate into our society.
The art, while relatively simplistic, does a good job of capturing the personalities of the myriad characters. The use of blue-toned shadings for contemporary scenes and gray-toned shadings for “flashbacks” helps the story flow well. The book is chock-full of extremely helpful information about the ins-and-outs of procedures, agencies, volunteer organizations and timelines that immigrants are forced to contend with. And I found the epilogue and author notes at the back very helpful to understanding the Albadaan family’s complicated — and yet commonplace — experiences.
Highly recommended!
[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try the biographies of Feynman and Hawking by Jim Ottoviani.]
[ publisher’s official Welcome to the New World book web page ] | [ official Jake Halpern web site ] [ official Michael Sloan web site ]
Recommended
by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service
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